The life of a Maasai woman is precious like gemstone!

Many women in Africa are taken through hardship and sheer trouble that is as a result of poverty and cultural oppression. Very few Maasai women in Kenya get a chance to enrol in schools to the tertiary levels. As a matter of fact despite the set up of the free education approximately 40 percent of Maasai women have gone to school to achieve their education right. From these student percentages only five percentages have the chance to go up to the secondary level.

It is known that the Maasai women are initiated at the age of 11 or 13 then later on they are married off to a man that has been chosen by their own fathers in exchange of heads of cattle. This comes with a lot of restrictions such as no divorce or getting out of marriage despite any brutal treatment. Also they are never allowed to remarry even if in case the husband that was given to her (one who is old) dies of while she is still at her tender age. As a matter of fact, they are mostly inherited by the brothers of the deceased.

In this community there is no much care on the mother’s health, they are supposed to give birth to many children or irrespective of the family ability to take care of them. These are the same women who wake up early every morning to milk the cows and last the whole day in the hot sun in search of water to wash the family’s clothes. Also, firewood is picked by the women in order to prepare food for the entire family and also to be used to warm the house. In a nut shell these women will live a life of less comfort especially getting married to a man that was selected by their fathers.

This is why their life expectancy is an average of 45 years. 
The Maasai community are the most dignified and restored in Kenya and their cultural practises attract a wide range of visitors from the entire world. They have been in a position to safeguard their traditional values despite the pressures of the world in relation to modernity. They value their nomadic lifestyles, they houses (their manyattas) and traditional foods. However, a lot of changes are embraced by this community in relation to educating their girl child and also impact knowledge to their boys.

However much the Maasai women seem forgotten in the society, they still remain the gemstone of Kenya and they play a very big role in putting together the fabric of the Maasai community.