Embracing Partnership for Social Transformation and the Realization of Human Rights: A Pathway to Ending Female Genital Mutilation, Marginalization of Women in Political Leadership, and Other Harmful Practices Amongst the Abagusii of Kenya

Abstract


 
 
 Utilizing the Abagusii community of Southwestern Kenya as a case study, the author explores how patriarchy, a social system that is embedded in a domination social configuration (Eisler, 2007), is fertile ground for several practices which violate girls’ and women’s human rights. These practices range from female genital mutilation to the marginalization of women from participating in more meaningful political leadership and decision-making processes. The author argues that cultural transformation, one of the foundational concepts of her dissertation’s research-based, transformative change leadership development framework “Bold Leadership for Humanity in Practice (BLHP)” (Abuya, 2017), can be an antidote to the prevalent culture of domination in Gusiiland, a culture which perpetuates several practices that violate girls’ and women’s human rights. The author concludes that social change agents and leaders can help foster a culture of partnership, by facilitating a shift in deeply-held cultural assumptions through transformative learning, subsequent transformative change, and cultural transformation for the realization of women’s human rights in Gusiiland.