The Institute of Human Resource Management has expressed its concern over failure by Parliament to enact the two-thirds gender rule saying it is a set back for women leadership.
As the world marked International Women’s Day yesterday, the institute said gains made in enlightening the girl child could be rolled back over failure to implement key steps geared towards uplifting the standards of women in the society.
This emerged when the Institute held its annual Women in Human Resource convention at the Lake Naivasha Resort.
IHRM executive director Dorcas Wainaina said the move by Parliament is in bad faith as the Constitution has provided space for women representation.
Wainaina said the conference was aimed at ensuring women got a platform to air their encounters at their workplaces and come up with solutions on how best to deal with them.
“As we celebrate the International Women’s Day, we need to look at the challenges women face and see how to deal with them while getting experiences from our female colleagues who have excelled and that is what the conference is all about,” she said.
She said women continue to face challenges at their work stations with many being marginalised while stagnating at one job group.
“Women have fewer opportunities compared to their male colleagues and this is not just locally but globally,” she said.
Wainaina pointed to disparities in remuneration for women in human resource as some of the challenges facing them. She said although there are gains made in uplifting the value of a woman in the society, a lot needs to be done now that Parliament had failed to enact “the critical law”.
Kenya Private Sector Alliance chief executive Carole Kariuki called on women MPs to start thinking of other possible ways to realise gender representation. “There are options available and we will work together as stakeholders to seek better ways of ensuring women are represented in all spheres of leadership.”