Joyce is 2^nd to Eunice. She thinks men have the notion of owning the money that comes out of harvests. They keep it to themselves omitting their families in their plans.

Ways in which members have tried to cope with these problems

Damaris says people should have proper plans before harvest.

Eunice is trying her best to understanding her husband.

Joyce thinks the group should out to men, so they can learn to share the proceeds with their families.

SELF EFFICACY

The amount of self-confidence and self-worth among group members has escalated, women being at the forefront of this personal growth

Damaris says; “Gender education has come recently. The role of women has shifted because unlike in the past, now we have a voice, the impact of many women in society being felt. Women have even assumed the role of group leadership in gender training.”

Rachael is trying hard, the competition yet to effect positive change.

Mary Mumbi has shown positive change readily accepting to join group training.

RESPECT AMONG THE MEMBERS

After group training, members have changed the way they relate to one another.

All members hold talks considering respectful words and proper tone when conversing with the opposite gender.

The members have also adhered to proper communication with their children, they talk them into decent behavior instead of punishments and seclusion.

ATTITUDE TOWARDS GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE (GBV)

Although instances of GBV among members in the group have reduced, simple forms of violence have persisted.

Members know about various categories of violence, including domestic violence, seasonality based violence as well as various types of GBV.

Some of the forms of GBV that have continued escalating among members comprise;

Reduced violence; which is a form of violence caused by high poverty rates in a family.

Eunice experiences this form of GBV; the situation has to escalate since farm harvests have started.

How the community deals with reduced this form of GBV

Joyce has evaded poverty by working different ‘small jobs’ and combining the income she gets with that of the husband.

Mary Gitau says, “Women can curb non-violent gender-based violence by sitting and talking about the differences in the presence of an elder.”

INSTRUMENTAL AGENCY

Input in Productive Decision

This form of training encompasses enlightening women with what they need to do particularly in a farm since it is their role to know what a home needs in and out of the house, and share their findings with their husbands. The husband will mostly go with the wife’s idea provided proper communication is taken.

After training, the woman will pass the knowledge she has acquired with the husband.

Ownership of Land

It will take a while for women in this community to rightfully own property and tones of work for men to accept the same.

Joyce says, “Unity has made my husband understand that I am part of the home. A woman is a backbone to a family, the strength a home needs. Mostly, men do not entertain the idea of women owning land.”

Joyce believes that although she owns no title deed, one day she will own her piece of land.

Some women have proclaimed their assets but are not open to talking about it.

Joyce is never open about owning assets in the household, though during training she agreed to talk about it.

ACCESS TO CREDIT

“Before training, women used to stay in the dark. But after mingling with other women, we have enlightened each other on ways of accessing credit and credit facilities. A few discussions with my husband has helped me acquire soft loans which help with matters school fees and purchase of household items.” Says Eunice

“Men are seeing women as their strength, mostly after they give them the idea of acquiring a loan. Women know better than their husbands, the problems their households are going through, and could hence tell them the factors that necessitate the acquisition of a loan.” Says Joyce.

CONTROL OVER USE OF INCOME

“After the gender education, we talk to each other before we sell the farm produce. My husband is even okay with the buyer leaving the money with me. In the past, no money would be given to me. Not even after months of hard work, I had encountered in the farm.”, says Joyce

“I wish more groups could be trained since many households lack proper modes of communication. Women are robbed off the ability to possess their own money or have a particular number of assets in a household, which happens regardless of their hard work.” Says Damaris, a former member of the gender training group.

Mary Gitau says; “After discussing with my husband, I have the freedom to spend the money we have made together. I also have the grounds to change my husband’s decision after the proper talk.”

Mary says she would like even more men to be engaged in group training so they could learn the role women play in income usage.

WORK BALANCE

Although most women in the training group believed in the delegation of duties in a household, most women said that some duties could not be undertaken by a man.

For instance, Damaris, a training group member said, “My husband cannot go fetch firewood for me when I have a lot of work, but he can provide hired labor if we can pay for it.”

Others like Joyce say the husband helps in farm work, mostly when she is caught up in house chores, then she joins in after she is done.

In an ordinary situation, men cannot play the role of winning bread and at the same time cooking for the household. However, for trained men, they agree to cook for the household in times of sickness or travel.

For people like Joyce, the husband helps babysit their small child when she is in the kitchen cooking, which is a miniature yet vital task.

Nonetheless, the community does not take lightly a scenario of a man performing roles that are meant for women. The children also tend to take their father’s warnings and directions lightly, for instance,, the tendency of talking before visitors, since it is like the father and the mother play the same role. The father is the head of the household.

VISITING IMPORTANT LOCATIONS

Rachael says; “As long as I have consent with my husband on times of return, it is well with both me and my husband. Sometimes my husband might disagree with me but I understand it since duties have to be performed before anything else. I must play my role.”

COLLECTIVE AGENCY

The group has equity in gender sharing and roles. The chairperson is a woman is her 2^nd year of training while the treasurer is a man, elected by fellow group members. Both women and men collectively contribute to the group’s agenda. Women claim they are not oppressed.