The quest for gender equality in politics and government and the limits of legislative approach to women’s inclusion in Kenya

Human equality is a fundamental element of human values and a key anchor for the pursuit of many social values like inclusion, justice, freedom and respect in many societies around the world. Gender equality is one such critical axis of equal societies that has potential economic, political and social dividends for individuals and societies. Politically, gender equality benefits individuals and societies by equally placing men and women in positions of power and decision-making as elected or appointed leaders. The principal way in which the Kenyan state has attempted to realize gender equality in politics and government since 2010 is through constitutional and legislative reforms. These reforms incorporate provisions for women only candidates for specific electoral constituencies and gender quotas in legislative bodies and public executive appointments at national and sub-national levels of government. Statistics, however, show that women held only 26 per cent of parliamentary seats in Sub-Saharan African in 2022. In Kenya, despite the constitutional provision of a minimum gender ratio of 1 to 2 in political representation, women held only 23 per cent of parliamentary seats as at September 2022. This article therefore utilized diverse published sources and data from Kenya’s national parliament and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Parline data to evaluate the effectiveness of legal reforms in realizing gender equality and the inclusion of women in development and political leadership in Kenya. This article concludes that the inadequate representation of women in politics and government in Kenya suggests that the gender equality framework should include economic, institutional, political and social reforms to realize gender inclusive representation and decision-making to realize better development and outcomes in Kenya.