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

Women are emerging as the biggest beneficiaries of the proposed constitution with a raft of measures included to secure their rights in law.

The draft guarantees that at least a third of members of all elective institutions in which public policy is shaped will be women. They are also guaranteed representation in other key non-elective bodies such as the Court of Appeal.

If passed, the proposals will see Kenya on the way to attaining the levels of female representation enjoyed in some of the most equal societies on this score in the world including Rwanda (where 48.8 per cent of lawmakers are female), Sweden (47 per cent), Cuba (43.2 per cent), Finland (41.5 per cent) and Argentina (40 per cent).

Many leaders to whom the Sunday Nation spoke said this quota system would go a long way in ensuring that women play a central role in nation-building.

“As an organisation, we find the proposals in the draft that seek to address gender imbalance a noble idea that should be supported by not only women, but every Kenyan,” said women lawyers advocacy group FIDA chairperson Patricia Nyaundi.

Mrs Nyaundi said women should support these clauses as they mark a major step forward in the drive to secure women’s rights.

The United Nations has listed gender equality as one of the cornerstones of the UN Millennium Goals, which aim to halve world poverty by 2015.

The UN argues it has been proven that countries which offer women greater access to educational and employment opportunities and have more women in positions of political leadership experience improved levels of economic growth. Kenya has been listed as one of the nations in Africa lagging behind in attaining these goals.

Many proposals

Among the many proposals in the harmonised draft aimed at increasing the number of women in public office is a quota system under which not more than two-thirds of the members of elective bodies shall be of the same gender.

If adopted, gender activists say this measure would benefit both men and women since women are also not allowed to hold more than two-thirds of the positions either.

“The clause ensures that both men and women are finally recognised as equal in value and in their ability to contribute to national development,” Mrs Nyaundi said.

Esther Murugi, minister for Gender and Children’s Affairs, said although the effort to achieve gender balance was welcome, she would like the clauses to be much more specific and to apportion many more than one-third of positions to women.

Other pro-women measures include the establishment of a Human Rights and Gender Commission and the formation of a Judicial Service Commission that would promote gender equality in the Judiciary.

Although many women have welcomed the proposals, they say there is still some distance to go before the changes are finally enshrined in the Constitution.