KIRUKU: Rickety old men making decisions about women: God save Kenya!

A move by Kenyan Members of Parliament a week ago to reject a formula to implement the country’s constitutionally enshrined two-thirds gender rule is yet another setback in realizing gender parity in the region.

The Bill, which required the support of 233 MPs comprising two thirds of all parliamentarians to proceed to the third reading, failed when only 195 out of the 233 members present voted in support.

The Bill, which was published by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, would have required any shortfall in gender representation to be covered party nominations.

Kenya should borrow a leaf from Tanzania and Rwanda, the two East African Community Partner States who have shown that gender equality need not be a myth – it  is attainable and practical.

Tanzania President John Magufuli appointed eight women to a 19-strong Cabinet, not forgetting that the vice president is also a woman and ran for the post. Rwanda is a global leader in attainment of gender parity and sealing the gender gap in leadership positions.

Kenyan parliamentarians have now shown that the EAC economic powerhouse is still far from accepting women into leadership positions. This has set a bad precedent for other EAC countries which would ordinarily have looked up to Kenya to offer leadership; indeed, it is no wonder that the country’s supremacy in the region is increasingly being challenged on various fronts.

Some of the reasons given by Kenyan MPs for their rejection of the Bill are not just laughable, but shocking and absurd as well. They display the pervasive male chauvinism that still reigns supreme in key institutions.

The claim that the rising wage bill will be further bloated is a lame excuse when one considers that the same legislators have been hiking their own salaries and allowances at a whim, with absolutely no consideration about the rising wage bill. Demands by the MPs that they would prefer young women to be given leadership roles instead of older women also hold no water.

Efforts by President Uhuru Kenyatta and leader of the opposition Raila Odinga to push for adoption of the Bill bore no fruit, an indication that the society is far from embracing women into higher positions of governance.

The embarrassing scenario puts a stain on the current House – the same stain that also defines the current Kenyan government, which has only given lip service to the two thirds gender principle. Presidential appointments to key positions such as the Cabinet have failed to adhere to the agreed threshold, undercutting the president’s moral authority in asking MPs to implement this rule in the House.

Although Parliament has 86 female lawmakers, their silence in the House and lack of tangible contribution has raised. Some of them have never spoken or contributed to any debate in the House. Some seem lost and out of touch with their stipulated roles in the august House. 

Though these are sensible complaints, failing to implement the gender rule is not a solution; a better option would be to educate the elected and nominated women leaders, equipping them to fully participate in the business of the House.

The region must level the playing field for both women and men to compete for elective positions in the electoral process. The general public, our legislatures included, must realize that sealing the ever-widening gender gap and ensuring gender equity is not an exclusively women’s affair since the benefits will trickle down to both men and women.

The oft-quoted argument that women do not need any special favours and policies to boost their entry into parliament but should be brave enough to battle it out with men during elections shows just how out of touch the society is with the challenges women face during electioneering.

Forty years-plus since the first world conference on women in Mexico City, other regions in the world have moved on to embrace women leaders in their governance structures. East Africa, by contrast, is still struggling with sensitizing its citizens on gender issues. The negative consequences for the region’s overall development agenda cannot be overemphasized.

The challenges facing women in the region are myriad, ranging from high illiteracy levels to poverty and the devastating impact of HIV/Aids. Women best understand the issues affecting them; boosting their entry into leadership positions is paramount in articulating these issues at policy-making forums, thus improving their wellbeing.

Women from across the region will have to wait six months before the Bill in Kenya can be taken back to the floor of the House. Hopefully, the promise by Deputy President William Ruto will stand, and the Jubilee government will muster the numbers to push for its adoption.