Gender CS Margaret Kobia has said it will take the country almost 200 years to achieve gender equality.
Kobia was basing her argument on the recent findings of the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2020 which stated it will take 100 years to achieve gender equality worldwide.
"World Economic forum said if we continue at this speed, doing the same things, we will take 100 years to achieve gender equality but that's for developed countries, for us I think we will take 200 years," she said.
The report ranked Kenya 109th out of 153 countries rated based on their progress towards gender equality last year.
Kenya scored an index of 0.671 out of a possible 10 marks.
The CS was speaking on Thursday during a round-table meeting for the common women's agenda in Nairobi.
She said despite making some progress in financial access, women in leadership, and the advancement of rights, women, herself included, are still discriminated against.
Kobia spoke of an incident where some senior government officials disputed the idea of a woman leading in prayer for a national function.
"We were saying the event would run a few things and I mentioned we needed a woman because we already have two men and this governor said women cannot stand in front of men and pray," she said.
"I was asked if I had seen a woman praying at Nyayo Stadium in national functions. We must really demystify that."
She added that ironically, women's voices in boardrooms are heard only when they are requested to pray.
"Once you have prayed, you are forgotten and that is done. If you say something, the chair says okay but if the man sitting next to you says the same thing, they receive a lot of support," she said.
The CS added that the gender agenda in Kenya is very complex and has been made more difficult by patriarchy.
Patriarchy is is a social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of properties.
She added that even though gender equality is not just about women, they are the ones who are marginalised.
"Creating equal opportunities for men and women to maximise their potential has proven elusive due to patriarchial orientation, we just want equal opportunity but because of patriarchial experiences we are still struggling," she said.
Edited by R.Wamochie
