Transforming masculinities in the context of emerging family crisis: the case of selected faith-based organisations in Nakuru County

Abstract

Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs) are transforming masculinities in the context of family crises facing the modern family. This is because despite global, regional and national efforts by Governments and other agencies the incidences of family crises such as GBV, separation and divorce still persist. A growing body of literature links negative masculinities with family crises. Specifically this study sought to explore how Kenya Anglican Men Association (KAMA) and Presbyterian Church Men Fellowship (PCMF) in Bahati Sub-County are transforming negative masculinities to attain a vision of having a gender-equitable man. The study utilized case study and ex post- facto research designs. The target population was 928 registered members of 14 FBOs (KAMA & PCMF) in Bahati Sub-County. Stratified random sampling procedure was used to obtain a sample size of 181 respondents. By including all the 14 clergy as key informants and 14 lay leaders who formed Focused Group Discussions (FGDs), the total sample size obtained was 209. Data collection instruments used were a Questionnaire, Interviews and FGD schedules. The instruments were pilot tested in the neighboring Nakuru town Sub-County. The types of validities which were used in this study included; face and content validity. Reliability of the instruments was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha test which gave acceptable reliability coefficients of, α = 0.80, α = 0.62 and α = 0.84 for the questionnaire, FGD Guide and interview schedule respectively. Descriptive and inferential statistics, specifically ordered logistic regression and Pearson chi square were used for analysis, with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 for windows. Descriptive statistics was presented in frequency tables, charts and mean scores. Results showed that at 5% significance level, all categories of masculinities had a significant relationship with incidences of family crises (Hegemonic, p = 0.02, Complacent, p = 0.01, Subordinate, p = 0.04, and Marginalised, p = 0.00). At 5% significance level approaches of transforming masculinities had a significant relationship with the vision of transforming masculinities to have a man who respects women (use of dialogue among men, p = 0.00, use of leaders’ counsel, p = 0.00, use of gender champions, p = 0.00, use of preaching and Bible study, p = 0.00). In this regard the study recommends that FBOs, Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender and the County Governments to introduce programmes which will sensitize the public on the importance of transforming masculinities to mitigate the impact of incidences of family crises on the modern family.