ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the reasons for the scarcity of information about women in the Mau Mau rebellion in the historiography of Kenyan nationalism. It critiques the current scholarship on Kikuyu nationalism, and it poses and answers the questions of the extent of women's involvement in militant nationalism and how women's involvement produced a tradition of female leadership in post-Mau Mau Kenya. Though current historiography barely touches upon women's contributions to the rebellion, it was widespread and effective in sustaining Mau Mau. When women's activism is described in the pro-colonial historiography, two portrayals of women emerge. The image of women nationalists as prostitute originates from the district and provincial reports. Women nationalists began to be described as prostitutes by the colonial officials when the Kenya African Union successfully staged mass rallies in the Central Province.
