United by misfortune: An insight on the plight of the internally displaced women of Kenya following the disputed presidential results of 2007/8

Conducted between the months of January and March 2012 in Eldoret Kenya, this study sought to find out why the internally displaced women of Yamumbi IDP Camp A remained trapped in the displacement camp. The study sought the opinions and views of the women. By applying qualitative approach method of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions hand-recorded data was collected. Using purposive sampling 11 interviews and four focus group discussions were carried out. The respondents in this study included single women, neglected or divorced women and widows who headed their household. The concepts of entitlement & capabilities approach theory, feminization of poverty and insecurity regimes & social policy were discussed. The relevance of each concept to the study was discussed. Later the collected data was transcribed and analyzed into five themes. The five themes include ethnicity, de-link from social contacts, gender bias experienced as women, education for a better tomorrow and source of livelihood. Keywords: internally displaced women, entitlement, capabilities approach theory, feminization of poverty, insecurity regimes and social policy, Kenya, 201