- A number of thoughts have run through my mind, but one dominated; whether the country’s legal regime plays any role in political and economic inequalities.
- Considering the nature of the political competition in the country, one would not err in stating that political equality is directly related to economic equality.
Having unsuccessfully gone through the electoral process in the last general election, I have had a moment to pause and reflect on the entire process.
A number of thoughts have run through my mind, but one dominated; whether the country’s legal regime plays any role in political and economic inequalities.
Considering the nature of the political competition in the country, one would not err in stating that political equality is directly related to economic equality.
It is important to evaluate how our laws are in terms of ensuring access to equal political and economic opportunities for both men and women.
Starting with the supreme law of the land, it is evident that the country has made tremendous efforts to provide for political and economic gender equality, which is worth commendation.
To start with, the principles of equality and non-discrimination stand out strongly, under Article 27, which expressly states that women and men have the right to equal treatment, including the right to equal opportunities in inter alia political and economic spheres.
Article 38 proceeds to guarantee every citizen the right to take part in politics while Article 40 gives both men and women the right to acquire and own property.
The constitution also gives parties to a marriage equal rights at the formation, during the subsistence, and at the dissolution of the marriage and provides for the promotion of marginalized groups including women.
This is by ensuring that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender.
Further, Acts of Parliament, which are legislated through a constitutional mandate to the Parliament also provide for both political and economic equality.
For instance, the Land Act and the Land Registration Act have played a big role in enhancing women’s rights to immovable property ownership.
Also, the passage of the Employment Act and the Law of Succession Act is also commendable as it has contributed to equal treatment in employment and inheritance respectively.
There also exist very positive electoral laws.
These reforms have gone hand in hand with affirmed and real positive and progressive outcomes for the political and economic empowerment of women.
The rise in women’s activism, rates of employment, and the number of seats occupied by women in Parliament, as well as a decreased gender wage gap, are clear indicators of improvement.
However, despite the availability of such progressive legal provisions, the situation appears very different when it comes to the actualization and implementation of the same.
In other words, we have a very lively letter of the law, while the spirit of the law seems to be struggling. And this is where the real problem is.
For instance, the issue of the two-third gender rule has never seen the light of day in the Parliament, which at some point forced the former Chief Justice to issue an advisory to the President to dissolve the parliament.
The failure of the Parliament to legislate on the issue is to a bigger extent due to the male dominance of the House and the unwillingness of the male legislators.
This has denied the few female legislators, who have had the intentions and the will to make it happen, the requisite numbers to pass the law.
Therefore, realistically the constitutional provision of the two-third gender rule is just something to excite women since only twenty-three percent of the members of the national assembly are women.
Additionally, despite the constitutional provision that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender, the common practice, especially for appointive positions, has been just meeting the minimum requirements by giving women one-third.
This is despite the fact that the law states no gender should have more than two-thirds and not that women should be allocated a third of the opportunities.
If there was genuineness and willingness to empower women, we should have seen, in the appointive bodies, a situation where women are slotted in two-thirds of the available positions.
Further, despite having Land and Land Registration Acts meant to bring equality in immovable property ownership, and despite the fact that women provide eighty percent of farm labor, they only own one percent of the agricultural land.
On matters of inheritance, the Law of Succession Act provides for the equal inheritance of property for both men and women.
However, the Act proceeds to expressly discriminate against women by stating that if a woman who inherits property from a deceased spouse remarries, she loses that property.
Having been matrimonial property, a woman might end up losing her direct or indirect investment.
This is however not the case for men since they retain property inherited from their deceased wives even if they remarry.
With such a provision for women, it is such a huge blow in terms of economic development.
It is very evident that the gaps in the implementation and the discriminative provisions of the gender equality laws, particularly on economic opportunities, have a direct and express contribution towards political inequality against women.
As earlier mentioned, the nature of the Kenyan political competition requires that the parties in the competition are, among other things, financially able.
Thus, as long as women continue to have less access to economic opportunities, they will continue being underrepresented in the decision-making tables, and in turn, there will be a continuation of enactment of laws that are discriminative against women.
Denying women equal economic opportunities will also have a negative impact on the nation’s economic growth since they are also key players in strengthening the economy owing to their numbers.
As Cherie Blair quoted, when a woman is empowered a nation is by extension empowered.
Every person and relevant bodies should join hands in ensuring gender equality for the overall empowerment of our nation.
The Parliament should particularly be on the frontline by ensuring that the laws being legislated are gender-sensitive, and also seek to amend the existing ones that are discriminating against women.