Kenya makes in-roads in achieving gender equality

Kenya joined the rest of the world in marking the International Women’s Day, a day set aside to reflect on the gains and challenges that women face. And while the global theme was the push for 50-50 gender parity, Kenya is struggling to meet an even smaller quota envisaged under the two-thirds gender rule.

The celebrations held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi to mark the day were led by the First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, women leaders calling on the society to appreciate the vital role played by women in the society.

“The actions of women, measurable and immeasurable, hold up half our society, half of our country, and half, as one author put it, of the world’s sky. But women also face incredible struggles. Rape, Female Genital Mutilation, domestic violence – all remain a very real, daily threat to too many women in Kenya and in Africa,” said the First Lady.

The 2010 constitution entrenched affirmative action and Kenya has made some gains in the women’s equality movement.

According to the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), county governments achieved the threshold of the no more than two-thirds principle at 34%.

In the Supreme Court, there are two women and five men, hence meeting the threshold. There are currently only five women out of 20 in the Cabinet, equating to 25 percent membership of women. There are 16 women Principal Secretaries out of a total of 25, equating to 39%.

In parliament, the total of elected and nominated women in the National Assembly and Senate stands at 19% and 27 % respectively, falling below the constitutionally set threshold.

At the national celebrations, leaders noted that while the requisite threshold has not been met, women still have a significant voice in Parliament.

From its origins in the early 1900s as part of the women’s labor movement, the International Women’s Day is now celebrated in many countries around the world and this year’s theme “pledge for parity” comes amid an apparent global slowdown in achieving equality between the sexes.

In 2014,  the World Economic Forum predicted that the world would only achieve parity in 2095, but just last year they revised that prediction to a more disturbing number; it would take 118 years until you and the opposite gender are equal, in the very distant year 2133.

The UN is now calling for global commitment and a pledge to accelerate action so that women and men can really be equal.

Report by Anne Kiguta