Research by Warwick Law’s Professor Ann Stewart, supported by Dr Jennifer Lander into the interaction between gender and ageing in rural Kenya underpins a new discussion paper in conjunction with HelpAge International as a resource for policymakers, international NGOs, national and local governments, and older people themselves.

Professor Ann Stewart recently visited Kenya as part of her current research project as a Leverhulme Fellow on ‘Caring for Older Women in Kenya’s plural legal system.'

During this visit she interviewed senior judges and members of civil society in preparation for a longer visit next year.

She has been supported in this research by three alumni from Kenya, David Otieno Ngeri, Dr Agnes Meroka and Martha Maneno Gayoye.

Whilst there, she delivered a number of lectures at various institutions and met with a number of Warwick Law School Alumni.

1. British Institute in Eastern Africa, Nairobi.

   Title: Reflecting on Sustainable Development Goal Target 5:4 – How is Caring Recognized within Legal Discourses?

2. Mount Kenya University

   Title: ‘Gender and Plural Legal Systems’

Professor Ann Stewart will be going to Kenya to pursue research associated with her Leverhulme Fellowship: Caring for older women in Kenya’s plural legal system.

The study assesses the contribution of community-based ‘woman to woman’ marriage practices in Kenya to the provision of care, particularly for the elderly, when there is little social welfare available.

The everyday practices of caring for older people particularly women, traditionally woven into communal relations, are changing in the socio-economic and political circumstances of contemporary Kenya.

Are woman to woman marriages, historically understood as a means of tackling infertility, evolving into a way of recognising and ‘rewarding’ caring labour for those with assets? How are claims for recognition understood now in the ‘formal’ courts and within community dispute resolution practices?

Ann Stewart has been awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for the sum of £50,000. This study assesses the contribution of community-based ‘woman to woman’ marriage practices in Kenya to the provision of care, particularly for the elderly, when there is little social welfare available. The everyday practices of caring for older people particularly women, traditionally woven into communal relations, are changing in the socioeconomic and political circumstances of contemporary Kenya. Are woman to woman marriages, historically understood as a means of tackling infertility, evolving into a way of recognising and ‘rewarding’ caring labour for those with assets? How are claims for recognition understood now in the ‘formal’ courts and within community dispute resolution practices?