The elusive access to education for Muslim women in Kenya from the late nineteenth century to the “Winds of Change” in Africa (1890s to 1960s)

摘要

This article discusses the denial of access to education to Ismaili Muslim women in colonial Kenya during the 1890s and the 1960s. The Ismailis were part of the “Asians” in Africa, a working class, religious, Muslim immigrant group from India, circumscribed by poverty and a traditional culture, the orthodox elements of which, with regard to their women, did not resonate with the spirit of the Islamic faith. Most of their women came from an Indian Muslim culture in which their experiences ranged from a required submissive role for women that embodied a narrow interpretation of their faith, to political strife and racial segregation in Africa, to family destitution. Hence, these women's lives were fraught with difficulties of dependency, subservience, and harsh struggles for basic subsistence needs. Historically, the women's cause for equity has been a bitter struggle globally; the Ismaili women's gendering experience was no exception in the late nineteenth century, which was detrimental to their development. This article chronicles the Ismaili women's arduous journey through decades of political and socio-cultural barriers that prevented them from accessing quality secular education, until their eventual participation through the consistent efforts and guidance of their Imams, the Aga Khans.