More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Kakenya Ntaiya is a Kenyan educator, feminist and social activist. She is the founder and president of the Kakenya Center for Excellence, a primary boarding school for girls. The center requires that parents agree not to subject their enrolled daughters to female genital mutilation or forced marriage. Ntaiya is the recipient of a number of awards that recognize her work to educate girls, including the 2013 Global Women’s Rights Award from the Feminist Majority Foundation.
Five years ago, the world was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic—a crisis that transcended borders, affecting every facet of our lives. Today, while much of the world has moved on, the scars remain deeply etched in the lives of women and girls in the Global South. The crisis for us has not ended; it has merely been pushed into the shadows. As we mark World Health Day on April 7, it is imperative to confront the ongoing struggles of women and girls in the Global South and demand urgent action.
This March, for Women’s History Month, the Ms. Blog is profiling Wonder Women who have made history—and those who are making history right now. Join us each day as we bring you the stories of iconic and soon-to-be-famous feminist change-makers. Kakenya Ntaiya has ambition to spare. She told me once, while we hiked together in Northern California, […]
The following is excerpted from Too Young to Marry in the Winter 2015 issue of Ms. Subscribe today and get the issue delivered straight to your doorstep! When Kakenya Ntaiya was a 7-year-old schoolgirl in Kenya, she worried that her family would soon marry her off and she would be forced to become a child raising children. She had […]
It’s hard to not get discouraged at a time when women are still fighting for the right to control their bodies, same-sex relations are criminalized in 76 countries, rape culture and victim-blaming run rampant and women are still trafficked for sex and slave labor around the globe. However, it’s important to take a moment to […]
Kakenya Ntaiya, like most young girls in her Kenyan village, was forced to undergo female genital mutilation at a young age. Many girls in Africa undergo this gruesome centuries-old practice and are then promptly married off. For most, it means the end of not only their childhood, but their education as well. But 14-year-old Kakenya […]
An Afghan rapper. The founder of the first primary school for girls in a Kenyan village. A trailblazing member of Congress who fights to create an AIDS-free generation. An advocate for women’s and children’s rights and empowerment. Tonite in Los Angeles, the Feminist Majority Foundation (publisher of Ms.) will award these four women with its […]
And the two best friends lived happily ever after. It’s not the typical ending for a romance story, but The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (LBD) isn’t typical in any way. The web video series that just aired its final episode is a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, following fictional vlogger “Lizzie” Bennet, her […]