In the hot midday sun on the edge of Mara Ripoi conservancy in Maasai Mara, a group of women gather under the shade of a gnarled, old Balanites aegyptiaca tree, or oloireroi in Maasai.
The women listen keenly as Everlyne Siololo outlines some key benefits of belonging to the newly formed 5,500-hectare (13,500-acre) conservancy.
“This was hardly possible a few years ago,” says Siololo, 29, during a break in the meeting. “There were times when a woman’s voice was rarely heard. In fact, some men still look down on uneducated women. They need to trust women more.”
This wildlife reserve is one of a handful where some of the key decision-makers are Maasai women, who are carving out space in a domain long dominated by men. The reserve borders Maasai Mara, Kenya’s enormous game park, which spans more than 1,500 sq km in the Great Rift Valley. Along its borders, many former Maasai cattle-grazing areas have been converted into wildlife conservancies where controlled grazing is allowed.
Two-thirds of Africa’s protected land lies outside national parks, and conservancies are one of the main models designed to protect those vital habitats. A conservancy is formed on land that is collectively owned and managed by Indigenous communities — such as the Maasai — and set aside for protection, so it will not be carved up into small farms or developments. The community earns income by partnering with wildife tourism companies, which pay rent.
Maasai societies are highly patriarchal, and governance of the conservancies has typically fallen to men. Now, however, a new generation of women are taking up leadership roles and guiding jobs, and Ripoi is one of the few conservancies in the greater Mara ecosystem where women hold administrative rights: making decisions on cattle grazing zones and financial matters, and discussing employment opportunities – including whether jobs go to women.
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