Women in Igembe, Meru county, are increasingly venturing into the miraa business, which for long was dominated by men, to earn a livelihood.

Traditionally, women were prohibited from miraa activity, including chewing and selling. But things have changed and they have taken over. In Maua, about 70 per cent of miraa traders are women.

According to Jenifer Kangai, 55, the business was initially a men-only affair. Any woman who dabbled in the lucrative trade was considered immoral.

“Currently, most miraa pluckers are also women,” Kangai said.

The former teacher and now miraa trader Elizabeth Kananu, speaking at Maua town, said the miraa business has helped her educate her four children, two in secondary school and two in college.

She says her life has now taken a turn for the better.

In the streets of Maua, you will find many female miraa traders incessantly busy,  day and night.

Most of them are employed by men to sort, pack, record and load vehicles to ferry the intoxicating leaves to various markets.

Halima Yusuf, a miraa trader who also owns a miraa store in Maua town, said she has 15 workers, all men, to assist in the miraa business. Her husband has also been co-opted into the trade which she runs from morning to late in the night.

“I started the business alone but when things became better, I engaged my husband to avoid unnecessary quarrels, especially when I reported back home late from work,” she said.

She adds that the business is good and is helping women fight poverty and educate their children. Halima also appeals to the government to help open up new markets for miraa trade in a bid to make the crop regain its former glory.