Patriarchal regime and husband alike condemned Maathai for exceeding feminine control

Evidence

There are echoes between the nativist arguments mounted against Maathai by President Moi and the arguments of her ex-husband, Mwangi, who testified in court that he was divorcing her because she was ungovernable: “[T]oo educated, too strong, too successful, too stubborn, and too hard to control” (quoted in Unbowed, 146). — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 1159

Categorization

• XREF: The two nativist-adjacent attacks — the regime’s and the husband’s — both targeted her ungovernability, echoing the ecofeminist thread of the polyad about bodies that refuse control of male authority. — connects to: Kenyan elites attacked Maathai for being an ungovernable, overqualified divorcée — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 410; Vilification and marginality powered Carson and Maathai’s original environmental visions — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 405; Kenya’s regime punished Maathai’s political run by stripping her livelihood and pension — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 1155 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Women’s emancipation increased male hostility rather than reducing it. #expands (0.78) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 298