Evaluating the awareness of women’s rights among Barmaids in Kenya

Abstract

This paper is based on a study titled Examination of Human Rights Awareness and Knowledge among Barmaids in Mathare Sub County in Nairobi County³ .In today's society, educated women have the power to safeguard themselves against abuse and discrimination, thus fostering promotion of human rights. However, there many others still unaware of their human rights and protective mechanisms. In this paper, we evaluate human rights awareness among barmaids in Mathare Sub County, Kenya. Human rights are important because no one should be discriminated against and because everyone should have the opportunity to develop their talents. Sadly, many barmaids in Kenya do not have knowledge of these basic rights and freedoms. Human rights indicators are essential in the implementation of human rights standards and commitments, to support policy formulation, impact assessment and transparency. The paper focuses on barmaids, a marginalized group of women who face unique challenges in their workplace. A descriptive survey design was used with 88 barmaids from 59 bars and clubs being sampled. The study established no correlation between demographic factors like age, education level, and length of service and human rights awareness like the right to health care, emergency medical attention, political participation, the right to life, economic and social rights, equality and freedom from discrimination, the right to be free from arbitrary arrest, and due process in court and before administrative bodies, as denoted by X² (4, N = 81) = 1.28, P =.86, X² (5, N = 81) = 1.69, P =.89, and X² (3, N = 81) = 2.9, P =.41 respectively. The study concluded that human rights awareness and knowledge are essential for providing barmaids with a safe and equitable workplace. However, barmaids face abuse and discrimination due to their limited understanding of avenues available for the justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights. While the debate in the wider society on the justiciability of these rights is largely irrelevant, it is worrying that a section of society still lacks knowledge of how their human rights should be enforced and secured. The lack of this knowledge has largely been blamed for human rights violations in Africa.