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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 10, No. 8
Publication Date: August 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/abr.108.12915. Okech, R. A., & Onkware, K. (2022). Nature of Gender-Based Activities Toward Cross-Border Conflict Management Between Kisumu
and Nandi Counties, Kenya. Archives of Business Research, 10(8). 141-157.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Nature of Gender-Based Activities Toward Cross-Border Conflict
Management Between Kisumu and Nandi Counties, Kenya
Robert Amiller Okech
Masinde Muliro Universities of Science and Technology
Department of Peace and Conflict Studies
Kennedy Onkware
Masinde Muliro Universities of Science and Technology
Department of Peace and Conflict Studies
ABSTRACT
Conflict management has a gendered dimension whereby both men and women
play an important role through various activities in cross-border conflict
management programs. However, the potential of women's activities in influencing
cross-border conflict management remains unrecognized. The study sought to
discuss the contribution of gender-based activities toward conflict management
along the border of Kisumu and Nandi Counties. The Feminist Conflict Resolution
Theory guided the study. The study was conducted in Kisumu and Nandi counties; a
Descriptive survey research design was utilized during the study. The target
population included household heads, government officials and civil society
organizations including community-based and faith-based organizations. Both
primary and secondary data were used during the study. Primary data was
collected through questionnaires, Interviews and Focus Group Discussions. The
study had a sample size of 453 respondents selected through simple random,
Convenience and purposive sampling. Qualitative data were analyzed by use of
thematic analysis and the results presented in a narrative form and through
verbatim quotations, while quantitative was analyzed by using Statistical Packages
for Social Scientists (SPSS) to obtain both descriptive and the findings were then be
presented in form of charts, graphs and Tables. The study found that there were
several gender-based activities in the area that were key to social cohesion and
conflict management along the borders of the two counties. These activities
included micro-finance institutions at the community level, saving and lending
groups, cash transfers, youth programmes, religious peace organizations, and
intermarriages among other activities. The study concluded that there are a
number of gender-based activities in the study area some of which escalated the
conflicts while other were helpful in managing the conflicts.
Keywords: Gender-based activities, Conflict management, Border conflicts, Cross-border,
women’s involvement in conflict
INTRODUCTION
Border disputes have been around since the beginning of recorded history. Conquering
kingdoms was a typical event during the pre-state era. Aggression on the part of world leaders
against other countries as a consequence of territorial disputes caused both major wars of the
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Archives of Business Research (ABR) Vol. 10, Issue 8, August-2022
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
twentieth century. Tensions arose in part because of the growing nationalism in European
countries of the time, as well as because of economic and imperial competition, the collision of
Western and non-Western cultures, and the dread of war. (Cavalcanti, 2007).
In peace and conflict studies, gender analysis is essential since it is likely to emphasize the needs
of both men and women, as well as give recommendations for suitable responses and
interventions. As such, both men and women can be easily mobilized, recognized, and be more
economically, socially, and involved in socio-cultural dealings. However, that isn't always the
case, and these venues are biasedly controlled by men, leaving women out, thereby obliterating
gender equality from the agenda of conflict management (Khodary, 2016). Despite the obvious
advantages derived from women’s involvement in activities influencing cross-border conflicts
and management programs, there is a paucity of focus on women and cross-border conflict
management (Benardatte & Poipoi, 2015), which is reflected by the limited role gender has
played in the institutionalized cross border conflict management in Kenya and more so in the
context of cross border conflict management between Kisumu and Nandi Counties.
Fundamentally, both men and women can influence conflict management within the study area
of Muhoroni and Tinderet sub Counties. Accordingly, studies show that having both men and
women participating in influencing cross-border conflicts and peace programmes improves the
chances of obtaining an agreement and the agreement's sustainability (O’Reilly et al., 2015).
Conflict management has a gendered dimension whereby both men and women play an
important role through various activities in cross-border conflict management programs.
However, the potential of women's activities in influencing cross-border conflict management
remains unrecognized (Goldsten, 2001). Indeed, emphasizing females primarily in the role of
conflict victims strengthens the long-held belief that females should play no active role in
politics or other spheres of public life. (Benardatte & Poipoi, 2015).
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The study was anchored on Feminist Conflict Resolution Theory. Bailey's publication, Feminist
Conflict Resolution Theory, focuses on women's nonviolent peacemaking initiatives around the
globe and provides theoretical frameworks for comprehending the relationship between
women and peace-related activities, males and conflict, and sexism and militarism. (Bailey,
2002). The concept seeks to identify the components of a woman's voice, the perspective of
reality, and insights. According to the concept, centuries of exclusion, subjugation, and
discrimination have equipped women with social perceptions that are more perceptive than
men's in uncovering the world's underlying structures and participants. Numerous feminist
academicians argue that to unearth and transform inter-group and boundary conflict involving
unequal power relations, one must examine the situation from the perspective of the
subordinate, rather than the master, which is particularly relevant to the study and practise of
conflict management (Bailey, 2002). Femisnist ideas focus not only on women but also on
males; thus, the gendered perspective.
The concept of gender in feminist writings and other sociological discourses, in its most basic
form, describes the societal distinctions between men and women in terms of what men can do
and what women can't do (Sharoni, 2010). Therefore, gender is a socially constructed analytical
category used to recognise the biological differences between genders. Differences in behaviour
between men and women are sometimes referred to as masculine and feminine, respectively,
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Okech, R. A., & Onkware, K. (2022). Nature of Gender-Based Activities Toward Cross-Border Conflict Management Between Kisumu and Nandi
Counties, Kenya. Archives of Business Research, 10(8). 141-157.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.108.12915
and this is another way in which gender is used to categorize people. This is a central theme in
feminist literature, which argues that gender distinctions are cultural rather than innate. It has
been theorised that men and women are fundamentally different, both mentally and physically,
due to their biological distinctions. In their view, men are inherently more capable than women
in all areas of intellectual and physical development. There are others who argue that the
supposed biological differences between the sexes are overstated. The patriarchal system of
society, in which men are viewed as superior to women, is a major social factor contributing to
these disparities. This results in women being treated as second class citizens by society at
large.
Ann Oakley defines gender in her 1972 work titled "sex, gender and Society." According to
Oakley, women in the West are expected to be stay-at-home moms. This is because, biologically
speaking, women are predisposed to take on such tasks. Any attempt to alter the established
roles of men and women in society is seen as potentially damaging to western culture.
According to Oakley, this perspective on the proper responsibilities of men and women
contributes to the upkeep of patriarchal society (Oakley, 1972).
According to Simone de Beauvior's book The Second Sex, "one is not born, but rather becomes
a woman." She argues that men are privileged in society because of their economic
contributions. Because of this, he will be in a position of authority within his family and
community. As a result of this gender hierarchy, women are considered inferior to men. Women
are always the ones on the fringes and in the "other" role. At its core, civilization was a very
male thing. She elaborates that, contrary to popular belief, gender does not refer to biological
or physical differences between sexes, but rather to the socially constructed roles that are
assigned to each. Among the many other factors that influence gender roles are economic,
political, cultural, and demographic ones, such as age, social class, and ethnicity. Gender roles
are socially constructed and often challenged. They can so undergo transformations. In addition
to the gender gap, there is also diversity in the roles played by different groups of women and
men, and both sexes may combine or occupy multiple roles at once. Despite their stereotypical
role as victims, women in war zones frequently play active roles as moms, breadwinners,
warriors, or peace campaigners. Gender as being associated with women's and men's roles is
still a very narrow and reductionist perspective.
Therefore, Gender is a social organising principle that impacts not just individuals but also
groups, institutions, and cultures. Gender functions on multiple levels, one of which is the level
of the individual's (subjective) identity (wherein we accept, or oppose, and negotiate affiliation
with specific concepts of femininity and masculinity). It is also during this stage that people
begin to take on (or reject, or negotiate) traditional gender roles. Limiting the concept of gender
to women and men as individuals and their gender roles ignores the phenomenon of gender on
other levels: The institutional level, which produces and is produced by particular
masculinities and femininities; the ideological and doctrinal level, with its (gender-based)
values and norms; and the symbolic level (not only female and male bodies as symbols of
nations and states, or victims or heroes, but also meanings that are at first sight not seen as
gender, such as sovereignty). In addition, processes gender reality (on the basis of particular
gendered beliefs), and growth also genders itself. It is clear from this use of gendered or
gendering language that gender is understood in relation to other social relations of power.