ABSTRACT
This chapter draws upon the sociolinguistics of narrative to investigate identity constructions of East African women who attempt to occupy leadership roles in male-dominated professions. The stories are taken from a dataset of 100 life history narratives gathered from women from urban and rural geographical locations in Uganda and Kenya. We focus on the emergent identity constructions of women as political candidates or, for those who are successful, as MPs, in the heavily masculinised social and cultural spaces of national parliaments. The intersections of identity are examined from a sociolinguistic perspective, with age, family background, tribe and culture emergent as relevant categories affecting identity constructions, alongside gender. We also examine the constant threat of gender-based violence in political workplaces in East Africa and how this negatively affects women and their careers. We conclude by discussing how analysing representations of identity through verbatim narratives can get women’s voices heard by other women and girls, as well as policy makers, NGOs and gender-based charities in global locations, as a form of community empowerment, designed to bring about long-term cultural change.
