Features

Long walk to gender equality for Samburu girls

By AWC Features Correspondent

Josephine Naserian (not her real name) sits pensively in her mother’s manyatta, nursing her three-month-old baby.

Next to her in this quiet and cramped bedroom that also serves as the living area is her mother, equally absorbed in thought.

This is Kisima village, near Maralal town, in Samburu County, a place that has become Naserian’s home after the man who impregnated her absconded his responsibilities.

“This is not what I bargained for. But I have to accept and support my daughter,” says Naserian’s mother.

Naserian’s world crumbled when she had to drop out of school in 2023 while in Form Two due to pregnancy. Her dream of becoming a teacher was shattered.

Today, her fate lies in her father’s hands.

Naserian’s only consolation was that the perpetrator, a moran, paid a penalty to the family for the troubles he caused her. This was after elders adjudicated the matter and asked him to pay the fine.

“I don’t know what the future holds for me and my baby because my fate is in the hands of my father,” says Naserian, “I have observed them holding several meetings but we are not privy to any of the discussions.”

According to 18-year-old Naserian, going back to school is the best option for her to realize her dream. But there are many challenges she has to overcome, especially after being in a boarding school.

“The nearest school from here is about 10 kilometers away and I am unable to commute due the distance,” she says.

“On the other hand, I have no one to take care of my baby because my mother is overwhelmed with household chores, which include taking care of livestock.”

Naserian is among many girls in Samburu County whose future hangs in the balance due to unplanned pregnancies and child marriages.  This has impacted on the efforts to increase the number of women and girls empowered in this communities. It is no surprise that Samburu County is one of those lagging behind in gender equality ratings.

It is equally sad to note that while Kenya celebrates remarkable progress towards gender parity in institutions of learning, the story is different for girls from pastoralist communities. For young women like Naserian, the theme for the 2024 Women’s Day of Investing in Women to Accelerate Progress is a must do.

According to Milcah Lolkurum, the Executive Director for Community Safety Initiative based in Maralal, the pastoralist girl child faces myriad challenges on their pathway to empowerment. These include retrogressive cultures such as Female Genital Mutilation and child marriages.

“The education of the girl child is not prioritized by families since they are looked at in terms of the number of livestock they will bring, in terms of bride price when they are married off to older men,” laments Lolkorum.

Lolkorum adds that many girls are denied justice when they face violations as their cases are resolved by elders as was the case with Naserian. A modest penalty in form of livestock and cash is paid and that is it.

She says the county is yet to recover from the effects of Covid-19 when many girls were married off to morans who had just graduated during the lock down.

According to a study conducted by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) titled: Towards Attainment of Gender Equality in Kenya’s Education Sector, Kenya has made progress in achieving gender parity with successes in areas such as pre-primary and primary education. However, gender disparities persist in secondary and tertiary education.

However, in marginalized communities, these gains have been eroded by some of the socio-cultural practices.

Like other countries, Kenya has committed to ensure inclusive, quality education for all by 2030 in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 4. The enactment of the Constitution of Kenya in 2010, and the Basic Education Act of 2013, emphasizes the right to education for all children, regardless of gender.

Reports from the World Bank indicate that literacy rate in Kenya currently stands at 83%, only a 4% increase from the 2014 literacy rate of 79%. Enrolment in primary schools was 10.3 million in 2021, against a total population of 24 million children; with a completion rate of 49.8% at primary school level and 24.5% at high school level. These are worrying trends.

For girls like Naserian, there is need for a collective and deliberate action to promote girl child education in marginalized communities, including improving infrastructure and ensuring young mothers are given a second chance to pursue their education.

Winning and losing: Ayot’s political journey

By Claret Adhiambo

For Cecilia Ayot, winning and losing in elections are familiar experiences in her political journey: She has won one election and lost two.

But the 2022 election gave her more sorrow than any other election she has participated in. She encountered countless painful experiences that left a bad taste in her mouth.

Ayot feels she lost the elections not because of lack of competence, but due to a massive smear campaign against her.

“I remember some days trying to wake up in the morning to hit the campaign, but resisting the urge out of fear of what my opponents were going to do next,” says Ayot, a former MCA of Laini Saba Ward in Kibra Constituency, Nairobi.

She says the pain of losing an election can linger on for many years, and sometimes affects future decisions women make in regard to political contests. That is why there are arguments that women who lose elections require psychological support.

Ayot’s journey into politics started in 2013 when her constituents prodded her to vie for a political seat. They felt she would offer effective leadership based on her track record of running transformative social initiatives targeting women and girls in the Kibera community.

“Growing up in Kibera, I saw many women and girls suffer a lot because of lack of water. Young girls were forced to exchange sex for water. These were some of the issues that I tried to address.”

But one obstacle stood between her and contesting for a political seat: Academic qualification. However, Ayot who dropped out of high school in 1995 after she got pregnant, vowed this was not going to stop her ambitions.

She sat the Kenya Certificate of Secondary of Education in 2012 in order to qualify to vie in the 2013 elections. Like many other women, she says, the decision to vie in 2013 was baptism by fire into the world of politics.

It was tough. She lost the contest. But in 2017, she used the lessons she learnt to win that year’s election. She believes her work with the communities in Kibera to access water and education saw her win the hearts of many voters in the ward.

Her happiness did not last for long. Her decision to go against the position of the political party that took her to the assembly on the impeachment of the then speaker Beatrice Elachi, who is currently the MP for Dagoretti North, made her unpopular.

“I was de-whipped from all committees as punishment,” she says.

Again, she skillfully used the same party machinery to resolve her issues. Her game-plan was to manage the acrimonious relationship before the 2022 elections. What she did not realize was that many people were still unhappy with her. They hatched a plan to finish her politically.

“All other sitting women MCAs were given a direct ticket, except me. Worse still, I was made aware that the party was conducting nominations on the very day the nominations were being conducted. I did not have agents, my supporters were not prepared to participate, it was all chaos,” she recalls.

Still, she participated in the nominations, and won. Her grassroots networks came to her aid at this time of need.

“This was one of the highlights of my campaigns in 2022. Winning the nominations that were designed for me to lose,” she says.

This win made her reach out to many organisations to support her as she prepared for the elections. Very few did. For some, they could not support her because the design of their support program did not include MCAs. This reasoning left her confused.

“For us to attain two-thirds gender rule, women need to be empowered from the grassroots. It is these women (MCAs) who grow up to become future MPs, governors and even senators,” she says.

All these developments helped her to draw key lessons from previous and the 2022 elections. One of it is that technology can be used to build or destroy you.

In fact, in the 2022 elections, Ayot says due to the online violence she faced in 2013 and 2017 elections, she avoided online engagements in the 2022 elections.

Instead, she used her development record and grassroots networks to woo voters and engage in door-to-door campaigns.

The irony, notes Ayot, is that it is the same technology, a post on Facebook, that saved her from being rigged out during party nominations.

She feels that to consolidate the gains and ensure women like her continue winning, development partners should invest in empowering women vying for the MCA position as well.

“They need to look for the ones already elected and continue empowering them,” she notes.

This support, she feels, should go beyond elections.

“So many women are struggling in county assemblies and Parliament, trying to master their roles and rules of engagement. They need help,” she says.

Ayot also feels that gender advocates need to do a post-election analysis with women who lost so as to understand what went wrong and establish a support system for them.

Women legislators call for increased investment in gender equality initiatives

By Faith Muiruri

As Kenyans joined the rest of the world in marking International Women’s Day (IWD), women leaders across the political divide called for increased investment in women empowerment programmes tailored towards the realisation of gender equality.

In reaffirming the 2024 IWD theme: Invest in Women and Accelerate Progress, the women Members of Parliament and Senators cited Article 100 of the Constitution of Kenya which promotes representation of marginalised groups notably women, youth, and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

The legislators singled out Article 27 of the Constitution, which they said was key in pushing for equality and access to other range of rights, among them, freedom from discrimination based on ethnic or social origin, age, sex, disability and religion, among others.

“We need to push for the actualisation of these constitutional provisions to help break the barriers and create an environment where all women are valued and respected,” said the legislators. But, they warned, this can only happen if there is greater investment in gender equality programmes.

Among those present were: Beatrice Elachi, the MP for Dagoretti North; Crystal Asige, a nominated senator representing persons with disability; Jane Njeri Maina, the Woman Representative for Kirinyaga County; and former nominated MP Denittah Ghati.

Speaking during the People’s Dialogue Forum organised by the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD) under the banner Inspiring Inclusion, the legislators reiterated that the constitutional clauses have not only served to inspire inclusion but have helped to promote diversity in leadership and decision-making platforms.

“We have the Affirmative Action seats as outlined in the constitution among them the 47 Woman Representative seats and the nominated seats in the Senate, as well as the national and county assemblies, which have gradually increased the number of women in Parliament,” said Jane Njeri Maina, the Woman Representative for Kirinyaga County.

According to her, there is need to educate the public to understand the value of women’s inclusion in the political arena.

“Women bring unique perspectives before the floor of the House and we must celebrate gains made by women MPs in actualising certain legislative processes that promote the rights of marginalised groups.”

For instance, she noted, women contributed tremendously to the enactment of family and gender-based violence legislations. These are: Matrimonial Property Act, Marriage Act, Protection Against Domestic Violence Act, and Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act. These laws have gone a long way to protect and advance women rights.

She, however, points out that Parliament remains insensitive to young women legislators.

“For instance, we do not have breastfeeding rooms to cater for lactating women legislators in Parliament. It is like we are being told to put on hold our reproductive roles.

“Women in the 21^st century do not have to put on hold their reproductive roles at the expense of jobs and therefore we must be provided with a conducive environment to thrive.”

The women leaders also spoke about unfairness in the allocation of funds to enable them engage in development projects in their areas of jurisdiction.

They talked of huge disparities of how allocations are done.

For instance, they noted, each Member of Parliament in a single constituency has a staggering budget of Sh180 million to enable them execute projects in their constituents; while the 47 County MPs receive a mere Sh9 million for each constituency, which is not enough to undertake meaningful development.

They were disappointed that the County MPs are supposed to represent women, youth and persons with disabilities with the meagre resources yet they are put on the same weighing scale as MPs in single constituencies during electioneering period.

Political experts think these disparities and low allocation to development projects for County MPs might explain why there is a high turn-over for women county MPs every election cycle, with majority of them unable to retain their seats.

The legislators argue that for inclusion to succeed, there is need to bridge the gap in financing disparities at the Legislature level and pay disparities in the private sector.

There was a feeling that policies guiding many institutions, including Parliament, do not allow women to thrive.

Crystal Asige, a nominated senator representing persons with disability observed: “Even as we talk about the two-thirds gender rule, we must promote inclusion by pushing for the equal representation of other marginalised groups.”

Asige at the same time urged women in political parties to speak out against inequalities within political parties and demand they invest in gender equality initiatives.

“We must be bold, intentional and radical to inspire inclusion within political parties. We need advocacy and policy change to help deal with structural barriers at the political and national level.

Ghati expressed optimism about the effectiveness of women leaders in Parliament, bringing about change that promote gender equality. But she said that this can only happen if women leaders speak with one voice at political rallies or other forums.

Ghati challenged MPs to ensure the country attains and upholds the two-thirds gender principle that is key to attaining fair representation in the National Assembly.

“The more women we have in Parliament, the easier it becomes to pass gender responsive legislations and champion for things like the free sanitary towels in schools.

Beatrice Elachi, the MP for Dagoretti North and the Vice Chair of Kenya Women Parliamentarians, reminded the women MPs that the gradual increase in the number of women in all arms of government is as a result of consistent and tireless efforts of “our pathfinders whose shoulders we stand on.”

“It is important that female legislators understand the history of women empowerment so that they soldier on with full appreciation of those who came before them.”

STORY 2-IWD

It is now or never on the equality principle, legislators say

By Henix Obuchunju

Women leaders have intensified the push for the adoption of a formula that will lead to the actualisation of the two-thirds gender principle as provided for in the Constitution of Kenya.

This rule seeks to ensure fair representation of men and women in decision-making positions across various sectors of society.

During a National Dialogue on the Two-Thirds Gender Principle in March, 2024, organised by Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (Kewopa), women leaders said it was time women were given what they have been yearning for more than five decades.

The forum’s purpose was to look into the proposed Multi-Sectoral Working Group (MSWG) recommendations and formula around the realisation of the two-thirds gender rule.

MSWG was established by the Cabinet Secretary for Gender, Culture, the Arts & Heritage, in February 2024, and tasked to formulate a framework for the implementation of the two-thirds gender principle as enshrined in Articles 27(6) and (7), as well as 81(b) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010.

Over the course of its work, MSWG reviewed memorandums, analysed best practices from other jurisdictions, engaged relevant experts and institutions, and conducted stakeholder consultations and public participation. One of the key recommendations is a formula on how to actualise the two-thirds gender principle.

Among the legislators present were: Beatrice Elachi (Dagoretti North), Jane Kagiri (Laikipia County), Rachael Nyamae (Kitui South), Edith Nyenze (Kitui West) and Ruweida Obo (Lamu East).

Speaking at the Forum, Daisy Amdany, the co-chairperson of MSWG, proposed inserting a transitional clause in Article 98A to enable the current Parliament to conform to Article 81(b) requirements.

“Amending Article 97 to provide for a formula to nominate additional special seat members of the National Assembly, if, after the declaration of results following a General Election, the membership of the National Assembly does not conform to the constitutional principle,” Amdany said.

Her team further noted that arguments by some people that it would be costly to have additional lawmakers to realise the two-thirds principle were untrue.

“Please do not accept formulas that will not get us the two thirds gender rule. Do not accept negotiating downwards of what is a constitutional entitlement,” warned Daisy.

Laikipia Woman Representative Jane Kagiri urged members of the public to change their attitudes about men and leadership.

“Let women take leadership positions. If you walk to a meeting, take the front seats, don’t assume leadership is left for men,” said Kaguri.

The MSWG’s report emphasises the importance of mobilising resources and creating an enabling environment to support the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule. It recognises the significance of collaboration between stakeholders, including government institutions, civil society organisations, and the private sector, to drive meaningful change around gender equality and women empowerment.

Kitui South MP Rachael Nyamai urged political parties to ensure women are elected by deliberately supporting their quest for leadership positions.

“This matter has been discussed by the 11^th, 12^th and 13th Parliaments. I think it is a matter of life and death now,” said Nyamai, urging men in Parliament and the society to support women.

She also urged financiers of elections to support women who have shown interest in political positions.

Her sentiments were echoed by Dagoretti, North Member of Parliament Beatrice Elachi, who urged the 47 governors to keep supporting women-led initiatives in their respective counties.

The MSWG report further emphasises the need for continuous monitoring and evaluation to ensure the effective implementation of the proposed measures. It highlights the importance of accountability and transparency in tracking progress and addressing obstacles during the implementation process.

During the forum, participants drawn from civil society and members of the public commended the efforts of the MSWG in developing the framework and acknowledged the vital role it plays in addressing gender disparities.

The two-thirds gender rule is a constitutional provision in Kenya that aims to promote gender equality and ensure that no gender is underrepresented in public institutions. The principle requires that not more than two-thirds of the members of any public body shall be of the same gender.

The debate surrounding the two-thirds gender rule in Kenya has been ongoing for several years. The provision was included in the 2010 Kenyan Constitution, but its implementation has faced many challenges. The main issue has been achieving gender balance in the National Assembly and the Senate.

On more than three occasion, Parliament has been unable to enact a law to operationalise the principle. Several attempts to amend the law have failed to garner the necessary support. Some people argue that the rule should be implemented gradually to allow for a transition period, while others believe that the rule should be enforced immediately upon enactment by Parliament.

This push and pull made former Chief Justice David Maraga, in September 2020, to rule that Parliament be dissolved for failing to pass legislation to implement the two-thirds gender rule. Maraga termed the formation of Parliament unconstitutional.

STORY 1-Kewopa