Draft laws give women big boost

• Sweeping proposals to promote gender equality and tackle discrimination in elective bodies and public institutions
• If the draft constitution is adopted, women stand to be among the biggest beneficiaries. It guarantees them more Parliamentary seats and a bigger role in county governance

“We have been close on several occasions, mostly through declarations by the Executive. But unless we see that these changes are retained until the final stages of the Constitution making process, we will not pop the champagne bottles,” the Fida boss said.

Affirmative action

Previous attempts to amend the Constitution and introduce affirmative action in representation failed as Members of Parliament could not reach the required figure of 148 (two-thirds) of sitting MPs that would have passed the constitutional amendment.

Others say inclusion of affirmative action in the Constitution would allow Kenya to finally catch up with other regional democracies in terms of recognition of gender discrimination as a stumbling block to development and national cohesion.

“Rwanda has made remarkable headway in under a decade in terms of women’s representation. This partly explains the economic and social development the country has made since the genocide,” said Mary Njeri, Executive Director of Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW).

Although the first female parliamentarian in Rwanda began serving in 1965, Rwandan women never held more than 18 per cent of seats in the country’s Parliament in the years before the 1994 genocide.

In the nine-year period in which the post-genocide transitional government held power from 1994 to 2003, women’s representation in Parliament (by appointment) reached more than 25 per cent, leading up to the adoption of a new constitution. But it was the first election after the genocide in October 2003 that saw women achieve nearly 50 per cent representation.

At its peak, the number of women in the Kenyan parliament has never been close to the numbers attained by either Rwanda or South Africa.

Even in their most successful bid in the 2007 elections, female representation stood at less than 10 per cent. Of the 210 elected MPs, only 20 are women, compared to 97 in Tanzania and more than 100 in Uganda.

This outcome stands in stark contrast to the fact that women form the bulk of registered Kenyan voters, a statistic that has led some to question why women should opt for a quota system in representation when they have the numbers to sway the votes in whatever direction they deem fit.

Left out

“If they have felt left out, why can’t they elect their own into Parliament? They have enough women registered voters to do so,” says Ndiritu Njoka of Maendeleo ya Wanaume.

But Ms Njeri has an explanation. She says the political parties system is not “generous” enough to allow widespread female representation.

“At the end of the day, it is their positions that are under threat. For now inclusion of such a clause in the Constitution is the only thing that will protect the rights of women,” she said.

But Mr Ndiritu said that giving a lot of leverage to women might endanger some of the country’s cultural practices.