05/20/09
By Pierce Delahunt
Early in May, thousands of Kenyan women refused to have sex in order to demonstrate their stance against political fighting within the government.
G-10, the women’s organization leading the strike, asked prostitutes to join but understood their need to work. Even Ida Odinga, wife of prime minister, Raila Odinga, joined the boycott. There is speculation that more politicians’ wives joined as well.
After President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the December 2007 election, defeating challenger Raila Odinga, protests rose across the country, claiming fraud.
Many, but not all, of these protests were violent, inciting police brutality, furthering the cycle. Fifteen hundred people were killed and more than half a million were left homeless. Much of the violence focused on the two tribes to which Kibaki and Odinga belong, in which several important political and national figures were killed.
Kibaki and Odinga eventually agreed to a coalition government, with Odinga serving as prime minister. Leadership has been unsteady since.
The government has felt the pressure of the sex strike and is discussing reforms. Some men, however, have responded to the week-long sex strike with one of their own—a month-long version of the original boycott. The men only have 250 official signatures so far, but the organization’s leader, Maendeleo ya Wanaume, expects more participants. SexisaPoliticalToolinKenya
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