In the vast rangelands of Taita Taveta County, women are defying community norms that have for long hindered them from taking part in conservation. https://shorturl.at/UQtuQ
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00:00I'm proud to be a female ranger.
00:02First of all, I'm a co-pilot.
00:04I'm very proud of that.
00:06The challenges we face as female rangers,
00:09first, is that the female rangers
00:13have not been able to participate in our conservations.
00:16Second, is that the rangers in conservations,
00:20the rangers are small.
00:22When you look at men, they are big.
00:24So, the rangers are small.
00:25In the future, we want to be like the rangers
00:28in conservations and dungeons
00:30to make sure that there are opportunities for women
00:33and for men to change.
00:35And also, to have leadership,
00:37and to be able to work together.
00:39I love being a ranger.
00:41First of all, I'm a Kikei child,
00:44and I've been given the opportunity to work
00:46as a ranger in conservations.
00:49If you look at my life,
00:52and my current life,
00:54it's because the female rangers
00:56were given the chance,
00:58the opportunity to work,
01:00or to work as a ranger.
01:03But if you look at it now,
01:05the female rangers have also been given
01:07the opportunity to work as a ranger.
01:10So, it's up to the male rangers to decide
01:12what they want to do.
01:14Then, in terms of challenges,
01:16there are a lot of challenges.
01:18First of all, the female rangers
01:20have been given the opportunity
01:22to work as a ranger.
01:24If you look at the number of female rangers
01:26in conservations and dungeons,
01:28there are a lot of men.
01:30There are a lot of women,
01:32and there are a lot of men.
01:34And when it comes to the other challenges,
01:36it's very difficult for a Kikei child
01:38to be able to work as a ranger.
01:40It's not like we're sending ourselves
01:42to work as a ranger,
01:44and we're going to make it work.
01:46It's not like that.
01:48I don't want Kikei to have to
01:50work as a ranger.
01:52I don't want her to have to
01:54work as a ranger.
01:56I don't want her to have to work as a ranger.
01:58We are intentional in building the capacity
02:00of the board members and the managers
02:02to be able to have
02:04affirmative action when they're recruiting,
02:06to be able to be intentional
02:08in the recruitment, and ensuring
02:10that it's a balance between men and women.
02:12And sometimes we see them
02:14maybe promoting more men
02:16and leaving out the women.
02:18But we're also just showing that
02:20some of these roles doesn't need you
02:22to be a man or a woman, but actually
02:24needs you to have the right skill set.
02:26So as we continue with
02:28Wild Female Rangers Week,
02:30we'll be doing a lot of
02:32awareness campaigns around
02:34just supporting
02:36the narrative and
02:38the current situation that
02:40even the female rangers need
02:42to be given a chance.
02:44As a ranger,
02:46I've been through a lot of training
02:48and I've learned a lot.
02:50Like today,
02:52I learned about
02:54gender violence.
02:56And I've also come to know
02:58the importance of women
03:00at work.
03:02Not just at our ranch,
03:04but also at the ranch.
03:06And I've seen
03:08that after the ranches,
03:10there are still
03:12a lot of women
03:14at work.
03:16So I'd like to ask
03:18our management at Davida Ranch
03:20when they start recruiting,
03:22to give them a chance.
03:24We still have very low numbers
03:26of female rangers within
03:28conservancies. Within
03:30different platforms that we engage with
03:32conservancies, either the conservancy
03:34chairpersons or the managers,
03:36or even the wardens, we really
03:38urge them to ensure that
03:40they put affirmative action
03:42to employ female rangers,
03:44but also to create an
03:46enabling environment so that
03:48the female rangers that are employed
03:50can be able to work
03:52or have an enabling environment
03:54to work. That is putting
03:56in place toilets
03:58because they need toilets.
04:00Both men and females, but mostly females.
04:02But also putting in place
04:04water in those outposts.
04:06So those are the things that we
04:08are advocating for.
04:10And also to ensure that
04:12conservancies follow the labour laws
04:14and ensure that employment
04:16of both male and female rangers,
04:18they are able to adhere to the
04:20labour laws.