Kenya poised to end inequality through Generation Equality Forum

It was an honour to join last Friday’s Generation Equality Forum launch in Kenya, where the government debuted a national roadmap on advancing gender equalityand Ending all forms of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by 2026.This is an opportunity to build on momentum and lay groundwork for action, especially with the uneven progress on gender equality in Kenya and across the world.

Thomas Sankara, a respected Burkina Faso Pan African spoke with depth through his quote: “The condition of women is, therefore, at the heart of the question of humanity itself, here, there, and everywhere […] May my eyes never see and my feet never take me to a society where half the people are held in silence.”

Despite the indisputable gains achieved since the 1995 landmark Beijing Conference — the most comprehensive agenda on gender equality and women’s empowerment — women and girls in Kenya still struggle to have their voices heard.

As Kenya continues to serve as a leader in the Generation Equality Forum (GEF) — a global and civil society-centred gathering to revisit the commitments outlined in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action — we have an opportunity to change this picture.

Gender inequality

The ambitious GEF commitments launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday provide a chance to have a national conversation on gender. They also provide a concrete roadmap to end GBV and FGM amid the response to Covid-19 and resources to implement this agenda.

The pandemic has exacerbated gender inequality, with GBV being declared a 'shadow pandemic' by the United Nations Secretary-General Mr Antonio Guterres. Kenya is no exception. One has only to take a cursory look at news reports to find recurring incidents of various forms of gender-based violence including femicide, FGM, defilement and rape.

In a survey undertaken by the National Crime Research Centre on the prevalence of GBV during the pandemic, the number of cases recorded between January and June 2020 had shot up by 92.2 per cent compared with those between January and December the previous year.

According to the Chief Justice's April 2020 report, sexual offenses constituted 35.8 per cent of reported cases handled within the Judiciary. There is a whole spectrum of offenses classified as GBV, including intimate partner violence, FGM, early child and forced marriage, rape, and defilement.

The Kenya Demographic Health Survey of 2014 shows that 47 per cent of women aged 15 to 49 years reported having experienced either sexual or physical intimate partner violence at some point in their lives, with 25.5 per cent in the previous 12 months. That's how dire the situation is. As a co-leader of the Gender-Based Violence Action Coalition, Kenya has an opportunity to accelerate momentum and ensure Covid-19 does not undo progress that has already been noted to be painstakingly slow. 

Global movement

Kenya has already seized the opportunity to become a world leader in the quest to end FGM. On the June 4, 2019, while in Vancouver, Canada, President Uhuru committed to ending FGM by 2022. This commitment was reiterated at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD+25 in November 2019, cementing Kenya's role as a champion for the global movement to end harmful practices and advance gender equality and empowerment of women and girls.

The government has since launched guidelines for the management of County Gender-Based Violence Recovery Centres, which are critical for ensuring survivors have access to quality essential services. The commitments made through the Generation Equality Action Coalition concretise this opportunity and provide timelines for actions.

In line with these commitments, we should expand this level of ambition to other spheres of advancing gender equality, such as enabling universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and tightening the bolts on aspects such as representation of women in leadership and decision making.

Achieving the herculean goal of implementing the commitments we have adopted requires sustainability in their implementation, and continued alignment with global standards. Their realisation requires funding and resource allocation. It also calls for participation from all sectors of society. It is not merely a question of action by civil society or political goodwill.

It will take a concerted effort from governments, feminist movements, the private sector, civil society, and individual citizens to create the gender-balanced society that we all desire. 

Catherine Nyambura is a gender expert. She is the lead Generation Equality consultant for International Centre for Research on Women.