Political glass ceiling proves too high for Kenyan women

Writer: Nanjala Nyabola/ Marie-Emmanuelle Pommerolle (co-editors)

Publisher: Twaweza Communications, 2018

Book: Where Women Are: Gender and the 2017 Kenyan Elections

Pages: 208

Reviewer: Wanderi Kamau

The journey to proper political representation by women in Kenya remains elusive despite the numerous initiatives to fight for their space.

Among the key impediments women face are challenges based on cultural biases, gender discrimination and economic deprivations.

This gender-political denial is they key subject of a new book, Where Women Are: Gender and the 2017 Kenyan Elections, published this year.

Written by several scholars and published by Twaweza Communications Limited, the 208-page book comprises of various in-depth scholarly studies carried out in various parts of the country, reflecting different aspects of how women participated in the 2017 elections.

It is an 11-chapter compilation done by seasoned scholars, detailing their experiences, interviews, observations and research works on different areas of study on how women participated in the elections. The introductory note is written by Nanjala Nyabola and Marie-Emmanuelle Pommerolle, who are its co-editors.

Headlined ‘Women and Elections in Kenya,’ they give an overview that serves as a welcoming note to the reader on the subsequent pieces. The part also gives a legal framework on gender and last year’s elections, basing its reference on the Kenyan Constitution.

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

References given here are on the electoral system process, composition and Parliament, county governments as well as rights and fundamental freedoms.

The third study takes a historical perspective, delving into Kenyan women’s involvement in elections and political leadership from 1963 to 2002.

Written by Lanoi Maloiy, a lecturer at the African Women Studies Centre at the University of Nairobi, the study cites male dominance of political systems, culture and economy, threats of violence, educational stipulation and gender stereotyping as the present significant barriers for female leaders.

She asserts male dominance of power as the main obstacles to women participating in national leadership contests.

The study also recounts the experiences of past Kenyan women leaders such as Wambui Otieno, Chelagat Mutai, Grace Ogot and Prof Wangari Mathai.

According to the writer, the eventual characters of these leaders were greatly shaped by a political landscape driven by male dominance, patriarchal structures and ethnic politics.

In the individual case study of each woman leader, the study gives an account of how each had to battle cultural stereotypes, financial constraints, and sometimes violence to finally emerge winners in their respective areas.

GENDER PARITY

At the end of the chapter is a timeline of key events in Kenyan women history, which is a key information piece to scholars of Kenyan history, political science and gender studies among other important fields.

The chapter ‘A Seat at the Table: The Fight for Gender Parity in Kenya’ by Nanjala Nyabola gives an overview on the importance of representative legislatures and the value of quotas in achieving such representation.

She gives several case studies of young women leaders who opted to vie for various civic positions and the socio-cultural backlash they received. She gives a shocking statistical revelation that despite women comprising over 49.6 per cent of the word’s total population, only two countries — Rwanda and Bolivia — have attained at least a 50 per cent threshold on political representation of women.

Giving local and global examples, her view is that the path to achieving gender parity in Kenya is far from over.

What is key in this book is that the researchers were very strategic in their studies, as they focused on areas where patriarchal tendencies towards women have fully manifested themselves over the years.