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.
