Develop the leadership and collective power of women and girls around the world to achieve human rights, health, security, dignity, freedom, justice and peace for all peoples”- is YWCA stated purpose.
The North London Home for nurses was founded in 1855 by philanthropist Lady Mary Jane Kinnaird for nurses travelling to or from the Crimean War, a battle known for its “great confusion of purpose and notorious, incompetent international butchery”.
After the war, the home addressed the needs of single women in a great wave of rural-urban migration to join the industrial workforce in London, by offering housing, education and support in “a warm Christian atmosphere”. In 1877, it merged with Emma Robarts’ Prayer Union to form the YWCA with headquarters in London.
While industrialisation was the founding concern of the association, seeking to insulate women morally and socially from the vices of urban life, focus began to shift at the start of the 20th century. At the YWCA World Conference in Berlin in 1910, a resolution was passed requiring it to study social and industrial problems, and to educate working women about the social measures and legislation enacted on their behalf.
At around this time in Kenya, young British women were arriving in increasing numbers, encouraged by the Colonial Office in London, to take up clerical and secretarial jobs in Mombasa and Nairobi (Vera Harley, “Rickshaws to Jets”, 1995).
Although Asian and African women were also visible in the two towns, the society was already deeply racially divided. It was assumed that African women stayed behind in shambas while their male counterparts came to look for work in European households.
On Wednesday February 14, 1912 a group of 15 British women met to discuss formation of a YWCA branch in Nairobi. The building where they met was occupied by YMCA on the present day Ecobank Towers. By May 1912 the branch had moved to leased premises in Geater building at the corner of Market Street (Muindi Mbingu Street) and Sixth Avenue (Kenyatta Avenue).
The association was allocated two acres by the government on Protectorate Road (Mamlaka Road) and a foundation stone for a new hostel was laid in 1916.
Offering accommodation, regular tea parties, sewing, a choir, and tennis on its own courts the early years of YWCA did not reflect a wide curriculum. While Bible study was offered, it was unpopular, suggesting that the YWCA was primarily a social venue for young middle class white women; the Christian aspect being put on the back burner.
Notwithstanding that a growing number of African women were streaming into Nairobi in the early 1920s the YWCA did not extend a friendly hand to them.
This was hardly surprising as such racial exclusion practices were commonplace elsewhere in the British Empire and in this case reflected the influence of the Anglican Bishop of Mombasa who stipulated that the hostel be provided for “young white girls”, thus including a racial criterion as a condition for material support. The YWCA was just another bastion of “whiteness”.
During World War II, Windsor House, the main hostel building, and the annex were fully occupied by service women with extra accommodation being provided in temporary timber structures in the compound.
For many years the World YWCA had doubts as to “whether work in Kenya could be developed in keeping with the inter-racial character of the World YWCA”.
As early as 1947, World YWCA was putting pressure on Kenya chapter towards including African women in its work with veiled threats to withhold funding if its activities were not inclusive of all communities. In 1953, World YWCA rewrote its constitution to specifically recognize the equality of all races.
Responding to pressure, the first multi-racial enrolment service was held on 27 March 1955. Hanna Rubia, Phoebe Asiyo, Muthoni Likimani, Mary Radia, Beth James and Perpetua Kaigwa were amongst the first Africans to be accepted for membership of YWCA but as a separate African group. Some Asian ladies were also enrolled.
Thus, began a slow process of multi-racial work which was not necessarily equivalent to racial integration. The plan for working with African women was limited to building a hostel “for educated African girls working in the city”. For several years after the inclusion of African women in the YWCA, the main hostel was off-limits to Africans.
Vera Harley’s appointment as leader of YWCA in 1958 coincided with members becoming more willing to include African women. Harley responded positively to the push for Africanisation of Kenya YWCA against a hostile environment within the European membership.
African women were perceived as the passive recipients of white/European women’s instruction and assistance. In 1960, Margaret Kariuki became the first African woman to hold a management position when she was appointed assistant headmistress in the Kenya YWCA School.
However, notwithstanding the progress in the Africanisation of government, religious and other institutions “race” and class were still operating side by side to create exclusion and prejudice.
An African American Ernestine Kiano was the first black woman to hold a leadership position in Kenya YWCA when she was elected national president in 1963. On 4 July 1964, Harley handed over the position of national secretary general to Margaret Mugo, with Nellie Njage as her deputy.
Today, Kenya YWCA is fully racially integrated and has branches in Nairobi, Meru, Mombasa, Tana River, Kisumu, Kisii, Siaya and one is planned for Kakamega.
The association has adopted programmes which are more responsive to an African context with emphasis on community development, health, education and leadership.
The original hostel built in 1916 is still standing but needs extensive rehabilitation. It is an appropriate candidate for national monument status given the history of the YWCA in Kenya.
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