By Cyprian Nyamwamu
In a commentary published on November 21, 2018, Cyprian Nyamwamu argued that Kenya’s gender debate cannot be reduced to the 2/3rds Bill alone. He said the deeper problem is the advantage patriarchy gives men in politics, from party control to campaign financing and social pressure on women.
Nyamwamu dismissed the idea that women do not need special measures because they are numerically more than men. He said marriage often works against women seeking elective office, adding that several prominent female politicians have been elected in their paternal rather than marital constituencies. He cited Millie Mabona, Cecily Mutitu Mbarire, Joyce Laboso, Martha Karua, Alice Wahome and Ann Waiguru, while noting that Charity Ngilu is among the few who have won in a marital constituency.
He also said unmarried women can be disadvantaged in politics, and that political violence, insults, slander and other attacks discourage women from running. According to him, many male voters would not support their wives contesting for office.
The commentary further claimed that Kenya’s major political parties are tribal in character and that the people who “own” those political blocs are mostly men. He named TNA, URP, ODM, Ford Kenya, ANC and Wiper in that context, and said party owners often determine who receives tickets. He also argued that elections require large sums of money, which he said gives an edge to well-connected men.
Nyamwamu said he has worked in nearly 17 African countries and has engaged extensively in gender social dialogue. He added that many African men want the symbols of modern power — including suits, English, the army, money, jets, land, Eurocentric education, western medicine, multiparty democracy, cars and foreign university education — in order to reinforce what he described as flawed masculinity.
He concluded by saying that domination of women remains central to that mindset, including through marriage and sexual affairs as displays of power. He singled out Gusii society, saying women there are “insurbodinated,” and argued that educated men can be contradictory when they educate their daughters but later seek to subjugate the women those daughters marry.
