“I am unapologetically owning and politicizing my feminist identity”: Kavinya Makau (Kenya) – 1/3

Every time I’m asked what inspired me to start Eyala, I reply that it’s not “what”, but “who”, and I pay tribute to the many African feminists I worked with early in my career. Those who inspired me to think about the politics behind the policies I was advocating for. Those who patiently answered the questions that would come up as I learned to infuse feminist principles to all aspects of my work and life. Kavinya Makau is one of them.

A human rights lawyer and wxmen’s rights* consultant from Kenya, Kavinya is best described as a quietly fierce feminist. She doesn’t do nonsense, and she doesn’t accept it either, and I love her for it. Her surgical analysis helped my younger self navigate the sometimes murky waters of international development. She was also the first to introduce self-care to me from a feminist perspective. A decade later, I am still learning from her determination to practice what she preaches and her unwavering support to her feminist sisters. So, I am so grateful I can share one of our conversations with you today.

In this interview, you will hear from Kavinya about how she came to call herself a feminist (part 1, below), and what that word means to her (part 2). Don’ t miss part 3 and Kavinya’s inspiring advice about how to manage feminist impostor’s syndrome (which, my friends, is a thing)!

[Just so you know: (*) I am using “womxn” as a more inclusive alternative spelling of "woman"/"women", which includes trans and nonbinary folks. Also, this interview was edited for clarity and brevity.]

Hello Kavinya! Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. How do you like to introduce yourself to people you don’t know?

I always say: I am Kavinya Makau and I am a feminist lawyer. And that’s it.

Okay, I think I’ll need more than that!

Well, I am Kenyan. I am a daughter, sister and aunty – I think aunt is the identity that I am most proud of nowadays. I am a human rights lawyer, and I'm a feminist one at that. Sometimes people drop the feminist part because they want to be politically correct, because people are intimidated by the term, or because it is misunderstood. I have been purposefully owning the feminist label because it is powerful when we name ourselves as feminists. As we name it and own it, we recognize the politics of feminism – no ifs, no buts, no shame. It’s important because it’s a way of identifying ourselves in the struggle against gendered and intersecting forms of oppression and it opens up space for conversation.

How has that proud labeling of yourself as a feminist been received in the professional spaces you navigate?

During my career, or at least the part when I was in formal employment, I was privileged in that I worked for women’s rights and feminist institutions. I was ‘spoilt’ in that way because I was amongst sisters and allies and there was no need to explain my politics. Well, for the most part.

Four years ago, I started working for myself. My work broadly revolves around public policy advocacy to address discrimination against women and girls. As a result, I also provide consultancy services to non-feminist human rights and development organizations more frequently. And in those spaces, I have found myself explaining the most basic things on why it is necessary to apply a lens that seeks to transform the patriarchal power system in ways that do not promote the negative stereotypes of African girls and womxn.

I am unapologetically owning and politicizing my feminist identity. The lens I use in my work is an African feminist one. I’m affirming that more deliberately now more than ever.

You have intentionally put feminism at the heart of both your personal and professional lives. How come? Thinking back on your journey, is there something about your upbringing or maybe just your personality, that pushed you towards this path?

There are several factors. For one, I grew up in Kenya in the 90s. It was a time when, as a society, we were looking at alternatives in terms of democracy, so there was a lot of activism pushing for multi-party democracy, and a robust one at that. In our household, we were encouraged to read widely (including non-mainstream publications), ask questions, and form our own independent opinions on the situation. I understood then that I had to appreciate why the status quo existed and that I could question it. To this day, I continue to do so.

Another part of my upbringing is that I was taught to stand for what I believe in and to be unapologetic about it. I think the combination of the two, in terms of knowing that this is the status quo and knowing you can challenge and question it, and being intentional and unapologetic about what you do, is something that has shaped the decisions I make. So, when I started identifying as a feminist about 14 years ago, it came naturally as it was in character with who I was.

Most of the feminists I speak with can’t pinpoint the exact time when they embraced feminism. How is it that you are so specific about it? Can you tell me what happened 14 years ago?

I began to explore the gendered nature of human rights violations during my international law and human rights classes at university. I decided that this was something that I wanted to work on, but I didn't have a frame for that work. I didn't have a political lens within which to do it. So when I graduated from Kenya School of Law, I went on to practice in mainstream law firms. I appreciate the experience gained, but it reaffirmed to me that those weren’t the spaces I wanted to be in. I didn't want to practice mainstream law.

In 2006, I got an internship at Urgent Action Fund – Africa. I had applied for the opportunity because they were doing work around gendered violations in the context of conflict and post-conflict settings, mostly around transitional justice and peacebuilding. While there, the organization was supporting movement-building initiatives on issues that some considered peripheral to mainstream human and women’s rights organizing such as sex work and LGBTIQ rights. They were doing so by deliberately applying a feminist lens to their work.

That same year, the African Feminist Charter was adopted, and several staff and board members at Urgent Action Fund-Africa and its networks were part of the process. I learned and drew inspiration from them. That was my first introduction to what African feminism is and what it means to use it as a lens. It was an aha moment for me. And the rest is history!

Well let’s dig into that history, shall we? Click here to find out how Kavinya defines feminism and how she goes about embodying her values in her daily life.

Join the conversation!

How do you feel about calling yourself a feminist? Let us know in a comment below, or let’s chat on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram @EyalaBlog.

Want to connect with Kavinya? Follow her on Twitter @kaviemakau.