For the longest time in Africa, women have been limited by stereotypes and expectations regarding their abilities and capacity for economic participation in the continent.
The good news is that economic changes have had the reverse effect, prompting more women to get their cars, a development increasingly important because women’s property ownership, policy, and job opportunities have also opened up a completely altered way of viewing owning a car as a means of attaining independent transportation and improved economic status.
By settling on these conclusions, we could perceive that cars were generally classified as things that were only meant for men in most African cultures. Moreover, driving was widely seen as a male activity, and it was assumed that any woman on the road had borrowed a car from her husband.
Who was the first woman to own and drive a car in Kenya?
Marjorie Kimenyi was the first female driver and car owner in Kenya, according to her son-in-law, Mike Eldon.
How did Marjorie Kimenyi manage to buy a car?
Marjorie Kimenyi was from a well-off family; her grandmother, Medrin Wanjiru wa Rara, was a very wealthy woman during the 1900s and even owned a huge tract of land in Nairobi (the Globe Cinema area).
This made it easier for Marjorie to acquire a vehicle since money was not a problem for a person of her status who was lucky enough to be born into a family that consisted of great and focused individuals.
Speaking of focused individuals, Marjorie Kimenyi’s father, Ishmael Thiong’o, was also part of the first Kenyans who went abroad to further their studies at Oxford University in London.
According to a trusted media house in Kenya, Wanjiru wa Rara once hosted young Jomo Kenyatta in her home, who was working as a water-metre reader at the time and later became the first President of Kenya.
Marjorie Kimenyi’s Daughter
Marjorie Kimenyi’s daughter, who goes by the name Evelyn Mungai, was blessed with two kids: Eric Mungai and Wacuka, from her first marriage. She and Mike Eldon, the author we mentioned earlier, crossed paths in 1995 after she had been widowed for close to 18 years.
Evelyn Mungai is the founder of Speedway Bureau and Evelyn College, which is located in Nairobi, while her son Eric Mungai is a business mogul, Uhuru Kenyatta’s inner circle buddy, and not forgetting his daughter Karun Mungai, better known as Miss Karun, a former member of Camp Mulla, a Kenyan hip-hop group that graced the Kenyan music industry way back.
