The largest women's voluntary association in Kenya and the only one with a countrywide network of clubs is Maendeleo ya Wanawake (Swahili for “women's progress”). It was organized by a small group of European women in the early 1950s under the auspices of the colonial government's Department of Community Development and Rehabilitation, to promote “the advancement of African women” and to raise African living standards.

This paper will argue that although Maendeleo was founded to improve rural living standards through self-help, and although its national leadership in the early years of independence took a critical position towards the government, in the last few years the leadership has tended to accept the status quo and accomodate itself to the political elite. Moroever the gap between rural and urban women has grown wider and the development projects that have been implemented have been the results of local level initiative. The paper suggests that unless there is a greater commitment of resources from the national executive and from the government, Maendeleo ya Wanawake (MyW) will likely lose its extensive rural base. To support this proposition, the paper contends that:

(1) the national executive and its urban supporters engage in the “patrons' round” of activities, and in the urban context MyW bears more resemblance to a western women's philanthropic organization than to an African self-help organization;

(2) the national executive, though voicing support for women's rights, enjoys essentially an accomodative relationship with the government, and makes little attempt to secure equal rights or more resources for women;