Three events that shaped Kenya's gender equality space in 2022
Voters at Embakasi Girls Secondary School polling station in Nairobi County on August 9, 2022. It is at this polling station that a man voted for his wife claiming she wouldn't vote on her own as she had little education and that he had already decided whom they would vote for.
What you need to know:
- The country went into an election with only 14 counties having women on the ballot, with voters electing seven women governors, three senators and 29 MPs.
- Uhuru Kenyatta also committed an annual allocation of $1 million for GBV research and innovation.
- President William Ruto came into the office full of promises to empower women.
Kenya has made strides in advancing gender equality. Despite the progress, the pace of achieving gender equality is still slow. We look at three major events shaped Kenya’s gender equality space in 2022; election, outgoing and incoming administration.
Election
The election brought hope of having women governors in 22 counties. But by June, six counties were left with no woman in the race after they fell victims of negotiated democracy, lost in party primaries, or were pushed out by intimidation and unbearable misogynistic attacks by men competitors.
(Trans Nzoia), all shelved their governor ambitions following party negotiations, settling for men candidates
Peris Tobiko lost during the primaries, while in Kisii the trio - Janet Ong’ era, Jane Nyaboke and Rachel Otundo, dropped out of the race because the patriarchal bedrock was yet to soften to give way to their entry.
As such, the country went into an election with only 14 counties having women on the ballot.
Impressive it was that in some counties more than one woman competed for the governor’s seat. Nairobi led with three.
Migori, Kiambu, Kirinyaga, Machakos and Taita Taveta counties had two. And one in each of the eight counties, namely Kisumu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Embu, Meru, Kilifi, Kwale, Nakuru and Siaya.
Gender dynamics played out during the election.
At Embakasi Girls Secondary School polling station in Embakasi South in Nairobi County, a husband literally voted on behalf of his wife.
Having voted early in the morning, the husband accompanied his wife through the queue to the booth where he marked the ballot papers for her.
The husband said he wouldn't allow her to vote on her own as she had little education and he had already decided whom they would vote for.
Men account for 50.88 per cent of the 22,120,458 who registered to vote in the 2022 election, compared to 49.12 per cent of women.
And at the end of the voting, the voters elected seven women governors, three senators and 29 Members of Parliament.
Outgoing administration
In June 2019, former President Uhuru Kenyatta pledged to end female genital mutilation (FGM) by end of 2022.
Further, during the Generation Equality Forum in Paris in June, 2021, Mr Kenyatta reaffirmed his 12 commitments aimed at ending all forms of gender-based violence (GBV) by 2026. Among them, development of a GBV management and information system, $23 million of own funding on GBV prevention and response by 2022, to be increased to $ 50 million by 2026.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta during a virtual launch of the Kenyan chapter of Generation Equality Forum at State House, Nairobi in 2021.
Mr Kenyatta also committed an annual allocation of $1 million for GBV research and innovation, results of which will boost his government's efforts towards creating a GBV-free society.
The former President had in 2020 crafted a multi-agency team to tackle GBV, including FGM. He, however, exited without letting Kenyans know the progress he had made in fulfilling his promises and how the incoming administration would carry on from where he left.
But former Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government Dr Fred Matiang’I, somewhat created a picture of what his administration had done. The Ministry comprised the multi-agency team.
In a farewell letter to the staff, he indicated that through concerted efforts, the triple threats of FGM, teenage pregnancies and sexual violence had, during the Uhuru administration, been tamed to an “all-time low”.
Incoming administration
President William Ruto came into the office full of promises to empower women.
In his manifesto, Dr Ruto committed to a 50-50 gender representation in his cabinet. He reneged on this pledge. He appointed 22 Cabinet Secretaries-including a Prime Cabinet Secretary - out of which only seven were women.
President William Ruto with Kenya Kwanza leaders during coalition's women charter conference at Nyayo National Stadium on June 10, 2022 where the DP signed Kenya Kwanza women charter.
He, however, designated three women to equally top positions in his government namely Monica Juma (National Security Advisor), Harriet Chiggai (Women Rights Agency Advisor), and Mercy Wanjau (Secretary to the Cabinet).
During the launch of the Women Charter in June, he said: “Within three months of the Kenya Kwanza rule, we will put a mechanism to actualise the two-third gender rule and immediately operationalise that mechanism so that women don’t have to wait longer.”
As of December 20, Dr Ruto was three-months and seven days-old in office, yet a two-thirds gender bill has not been introduced in Parliament.
