Mutuality and Power: An Analysis of Non-State Actors’ Influence in Mitigating the Negative Consequences of State Response to COVID-19 on Adolescent Girls in Kenya

The gendered impacts of pandemics tend to be very conspicuous in how they destabilise the lives of women and girls. However, they are also visibly inconspicuous in academic literature and research. This especially pertains to how these impacts categorically affect adolescent girls and the underpinning leadership dynamic that facilitate the brunt of these impacts. Available literature tends to present women as a homogenous category and focuses on leadership through its governing bodies. This paper aims contributes to this academic gap by interrogating the influence of state and non-state actors in mitigating the negative consequences of COVID-19 on the lives of adolescent girls in Nairobi and Machakos Counties of Kenya. This study does this by exploring two main objectives; 1) To understand the impact of societal mobilisation in response to COVID-19 on adolescent girls in Nairobi and Machakos; 2) To investigate the degree to which women’s rights organisations are able to mitigate the impact of the state’s response on adolescent girls. The study examines the patriarchal power dynamic that sustains Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) which was exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic and lead to the spike in teenage pregnancies in Nairobi and Machakos. The leadership concepts of mutuality and power help this study unpack the relationships of the state, non-state actors and adolescent girls; as well, as how these actors influence adolescent girls stemming from the social bases of power they hold.