Survival Kit for the African Girl Child.

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A man walks into the maternity ward of a health centre in company of his three children, all of them girls, supposedly to visit the wife who is in labour.

They wait at the reception until a nurse comes over across to the counter and announces in whispers, the birth of his first baby boy and the fourth child of the family.

The man rushes to the hospital's phone to inform relations but was denied access. Then he dips his hands into his pocket, flashes a prepaid card which gives him unlimited access to make his call.

He dials a number and makes the announcement, "It is a boy!" to the joy and celebration of everyone in the room, including the three little girls, who were overjoyed by the arrival of their one and only brother.

On the surface, there appears to be nothing wrong with this rather popular advertisement of a new prepaid phone card in Kenya, which turned out to be a commercial success.

But gender activists say it does reinforce the idea that boys are the preferred choices of many African households. Even to the extent that a family with half a dozen girls would still feel insecure until an heir is produced in the name and shape of a boy.

Mercy Musomi of Girl Child Network in Kenya believes the advert in question smacks of segregation and tends to reinforce stereotypes propagated by the male dominated society to denigrate womanhood right from early childhood.