The peaceful and united corralling of the people of Kenya on 4th August for the constitutional referendum heralded a ground-shift in the state’s policy. The subsequent formal promulgation of the new constitution on the 27th August 2010 by the late President Mwai Kibaki was a monumental moment in the history of this nation. This was welcomed by the people of Kenya and the international community, amongst others the late UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former US President Barack Obama and leaders of other African Great lakes Nations. Amongst the many issues that the constitution sought to handle, one of the key ones was gender equality and affirmative action.
The call was loud and clear, women wanted a platform in the table of leadership. The patriarchal nature of the country was innocuous to the growth and development of the country. Therefore, the writers of the constitution listened to the voice of Kenyans and included several articles to talk about gender equality. This led to the introduction of the two-third gender principle in the Constitution of Kenya 2010. Article 27(8) mandated the state to take legislative and other measures to implement the principle. Through their own wisdom and the wisdom of the Kenyan people, they decided to create a leadership position for women under Article 97(1) to aid in achieving gender equality. This led to the birth of the position of the Women representatives, 47 of them to represent every county.
Come 2013 General elections, Kenyans lined up to exercise the civic right and vote for their leaders and for the first time in the history of this great nation, they voted for women representatives. Though this was a novel position to many and they did not understand their roles really, it was a win to the women of this nation. Eleven years later, a conversation has started on the relevance of the Women representative positions. This was started after the women representatives failed to speak for the rights of women during the ‘femicide’ protests in Kenya. It was fueled more by the recent silence of the same leaders as the finance bill 2024 sought to increase the prices of sanitary towels. Kenyans started asking questions and making demands amidst the crisis, they called for the scrapping of the position.
What is the role of women representatives? Have they failed in their constitutional mandate?
Established under Article 97(1)(b) of the constitution, the office of the women representative is not a special interest seat specifically created to address the women issues, contrary to the popular belief of many Kenyans. It was a mechanism that was meant to address the exclusion and marginalization of women in decision-making. It had been argued that the main impediment to gender equality in electoral politics was patriarchy, most gender equality projects involve implementation of gender quotas through seats such as women rep to increase the number of women leaders according to Ms. Christabel Mideva Eboso, a lawyer and gender expert.
Just like single-constituency members of parliament (MPs), women reps are constitutionally mandated to represent, deliberate and resolve issues of concern to the people, enact legislation, and exercise oversight over national revenue and expenditure. This then breaks the common belief that they are elected to sought issues to do with women and girls. As to whether they have the moral obligation to speak for women, Dr. Okumba Miruka, an international gender expert, tells the Nation newspaper that all legislators including male ones, should tackle the plight of women and girls, as that is not a special mandate for women representatives. He further adds that women representatives were not elected to parliament to represent women but as women. Some of them are not interested in gender issues. They may be interested in finance, environment or governance, so the assumption that they must address gender issues is misleading.
Nonetheless, it is understandable why Kenyans expect women representatives to prioritize gender issues. This is because most of them have limited themselves to addressing gender issues such as period poverty, girls’ education, or the plight of persons living with disability. The stereotypical expectation is also fueled by the fact that Kenyans presume that women’s’ and girls’ issues also affect women reps, hence they should speak out against gender-related issues. So, Kenyans expect them to know and understand where the shoe pinches. Also to blame is the title ‘woman representative’ which brings confusion about the mandate of those elected.
Is the woman representative seat relevant?
Well, this can be answered by looking at the aim of the seat, which as discussed above is to address the issue of patriarchy in electoral politics. During the 2017 general election, women comprised only 9.2% of all those elected to county assemblies, the senate, and parliament. Recently during Kenya’s 2022 General Election we witnessed a positive shift in political participation and representation of women. There was a 16% increase in the number of women elected across county and national government. Unfortunately, female politicians still constitute only 10.6% of all elective seats. This shows a slow but steady progress on women leadership.
Therefore, in as much as we might not see the relevance of the women rep seat in matters to do with gender-related issues, we cannot ignore the role that the position has played in giving women a platform in leadership and politics contrary to the patriarchal belief of many. The relevance of the seat cannot be a bone of contention in this time and moment but in the future, it is a discussion we MUST have.
Well, the above article is very captivating but failed to address the issue at hand which is whether the seat of woman representative in Kenya is relevant. When the people of Kenya promulgated the new constitution in 2010, they had hopes that their future would be secure. However, eleven years later after the first general elections under the new constitution, we are yet to see the results of these controversial seats. The seats of the women reps are useless((for lack of a better word) because when the moment these representatives are required to act or be seen to act comes, they tremendously fail the people. Also, their roles are not constitutionally defined. I just think that these reps were just included in the constitution so as to get the women votes in the referendum. We are yet to understand what their relevance is. This is the effect of democracy of copy paste that Kenya had adopted.
This is good take. In my opinion, it is too early to decide whether the position of women representatives is relevant or not. Nonetheless, I do understand the argument you are making been that most of them are acting “ceremoniously” in their positions and even most of them lack clear goals and targets for their people. Albeit, looking at our progress in addressing gender equality scrapping off the positions would erode the great work of women inclusion in leadership. Remember patriarchy and chauvinism is still a huge malady in our nation.
I’d say he’s captured everything at hand. The importance of having women representatives in parliament has played such a huge role in closing the gap between both genders in terms of equality. It’s an eye opener because I have realized that these people were elected as women in the parliament not necessary for women in the parliament. As for whether they are fulfilling their mandate, I’d leave it for us to take a deep dive into their manifestos as they were campaigning and hold them accountable for their word.
An insightful article and very relevant in highlighting the complexities surrounding the role of Women Representatives in Kenya. It has intensively examined the historical context and the intended purpose of these positions, shedding light on the initial successes and ongoing challenges. However, it would be even more beneficial to further explore specific legislative achievements or failures of these representatives to provide a more comprehensive understanding of their impact and effectiveness in addressing both gender-related and broader societal issues.