Enhancing Sustainable Housing Through Women’s Cultural Skills, Experiences, and Knowledge

Abstract

This article focuses on women’s thoughts and experiences in relation to sustainable development in the Maasai community. Women in the Maasai culture have been perceived as the key change agents in housing as they transfer design and construction knowledge from one generation to the other. However, the elements of globalization and modernization have transformed the housing sector design and construction to embrace the Western approach, thus creating a cultural requirement gap in the housing design and construction as upheld by the Maasai. This study determines the role of women as change agents in housing in the conventional sector; assesses the relevance of cultural identity presented in the housing design and development; and looks at the threat posed by modernity in conventional housing design and development among the Maasai culture. The qualitative research approach and content analysis were considered as the best methodological approach for the study. The study selectively identified and analyzed reports on housing characteristics in Kajiado County, as presented by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and the Society for International Development (SID), 2013 Reports. The assessment criteria identified housing building materials such as, for roofing: tiles, grass, makuti, corrugated iron sheets, tin, asbestos sheets, mud/dung, and concrete, among other roofing materials; for the walls: stone, bricks/block, mud/wood, mud/cement, wood only, corrugated iron sheets, grass/reeds, tin, and other; and for the floor: cement, tiles, wood, earth, household, among other materials. Therefore, due to the strong cultural practices that have been relayed over the years, the role of women in housing design and construction is still strong in the Maasai community. However, globalization and, especially urbanization bringing in industrial housing products and legal frameworks and policies that change women’s role in housing, have presented a number of challenges to the Maasai women while undermining the local culture.