“Coming from ghetto has not stopped me from rising to be the Second Lady,” Dorcas Gachagua

While calling for higher appreciation for women during the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) event in New York on Wednesday, Mrs Gachagua claimed that she has defied all odds coming from a humble background to one of the senior positions in government.

It is from her story's example, she added, should women from humble backgrounds be empowered to scale to greater heights and transform their lives.

"I am a woman in government right now, I come from a ghetto. I am raised in a ghetto in Kenya and that has not stopped me from rising to being the Second Lady in the republic," she said.

"That is why I think we need to start seeing women in a higher capacity and intellectually that they are able to do many things." 

The Second Lady noted that there is need to avail better access to credit for women in agriculture devoid of their academic qualifications.

This, she said, will help upgrade farming from rudimentary levels to skilled levels by 2024.

"Even those who have not gone to school, it does not mean that they are not educated. Informal learning is another way of getting an education," she said.

"This thing of telling someone that you need a degree, a master's yet this woman has been working on the farm she knows how to grow her crops. What she needs is access to credit and direct market and that will change her life."

The event was organised by the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR) Gender Platform on innovating for better food systems addressing women in rural areas.