Kenya has every reason to celebrate the gains made in empowering women. Across the country, thousands are escaping poverty through government-backed initiatives such as the Women Enterprise Fund, NGAAF and the Ushanga Kenya Initiative.
More girls are staying in school, women are accessing credit, and many are breaking into spaces that were once the preserve of men.
These are achievements worth applauding.
But the celebration should not obscure an uncomfortable truth: Kenya continues to fail women where it matters most—political representation.
Fourteen years after the promulgation of the constitution, the two-thirds gender rule remains an unfulfilled constitutional promise.
Women account for just 23 per cent of Parliament, a glaring indictment of the country's commitment to equality.
It is ironic that while women are trusted to drive economic growth, they are still denied an equal voice in making the laws that govern that growth.
The success stories of women entrepreneurs and senior public officials are inspiring, but they are exceptions, not the norm.
Real empowerment is measured not only by access to credit or markets, but also by equal access to power and decision-making.
Kenya must stop treating the two-thirds gender rule as a political inconvenience.
Until then, every celebration of women's empowerment will remain incomplete. The glass ceiling has cracked, but it has not yet been shattered.
Quote of the Day: "Things start out as hopes and end up as habits." —American playwright Lillian Hellman died on June 30, 1984
