The Missing Third

According to World Economic Forum report 2017, a Kenyan woman is paid Kenya shillings 55 for every 100 paid to a man doing a similar job.  The 2021 Global Gender Index report (benchmarks progress towards gender parity and compares countries’ gender gaps across four dimensions: economic opportunities, education, health and political leadership) ranks Kenya at position 85 by looking at policies put in place to close the gap.  Namibia is 6th, Rwanda 7th, South Africa 18th, Burundi 26th, Mozambique 32nd and Zimbabwe 47th.

Women earning less have multiple ripple effects including less spending power, less to save and even less to put aside for retirement meaning that later in life, they are forced to be dependent on their families.

Economic opportunites are pillars to all other opportunities and lack therefore means missed opportunities for women.  Running for political office in Kenya, for example, is a very costly affair.  There is a lot of financial implications including campaign teams, party fees, promotional materials and logistics.  With less or no financial capabilities by majority of women, their participation in politics continue to be very minimal.

Article 27(8) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 provides that the State shall take steps to ensure that not more than two-thirds of members of all elective and appointive positions are not of the same gender. More than ten years after the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, there is yet to be enacted a specific legislation to operationalize this constitutional provision on gender equality.

Increased representation of women in government and political space,is generally believed to improve women’s welfare in other sectors of the society-probably through legislation and targeted implementation of policies.

According to a report by National Democratic Institute (NDI) from 2017 general elections (https://www.ndi.org/publications/gender-analysis-2017-kenya-general-elections): women now hold 172 of the 1,883 elected seats in Kenya, up from 145 after the 2013 elections. Despite these gains, the report makes clear that significant obstacles remain for women seeking elective office:Women actually account for just 23 percent of the National Assembly and Senate — a figure that includes seats reserved exclusively for women representatives.  

Kenya goes for another general election in less than a week from today (August 9th) and it remains a ‘wait and see’ situation again if the crucial 3rd will be missing or adequately represented in the different elective positions at national and devolved tiers of government.