Writer E Njega has dismissed Kenya’s debate over gender quotas in elective office as a shallow fix that does not automatically improve women’s lives or national outcomes.
He argues that the real issue is whether men and women compete on equal terms, saying public office should be decided by merit rather than enforced balance.
Njega says the country has become fixated on parity for its own sake, describing the push as more about symbolism than a clear policy goal.
He also questions why politics is treated differently from other fields, where open competition is the norm.
To support his view, Njega points to examples from outside Kenya. He says Angela Merkel’s Cabinet was not made up of 50 percent women, but 44 percent, while Theresa May’s Cabinet had 31 percent women as of August 2018.
He further notes that women are already overtaking men in some areas in Kenya, including the 2017 KCPE, where he says the number of female candidates was higher than that of male candidates.
According to Njega, the debate also ignores the current position of men and women in the country and relies on disadvantages that he says are no longer as relevant, or are changing quickly.
He says gender parity has not been achieved even in long-established democracies and high-performing economies. Citing 2017 figures, he lists the United States at 19 percent women legislators, the United Kingdom at 32 percent, Japan at 9 percent, South Korea at 17 percent, India at 12 percent, Germany at 37 percent, France at 39 percent, Canada at 26 percent, Singapore at 23 percent and Israel at 28 percent.
Njega adds that there is no evidence more women MPs automatically lead to better lives for citizens. He says women MPs made up 23 percent in low-income countries, 28 percent in high-income countries and 24 percent in highly indebted poor countries.
He also points to East Africa, saying all countries in the region had reached the one-third gender rule, including Somalia, Burundi, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Sudan. He asks whether that has translated into better rights, stronger economies or better-run democracies than Kenya.
On Nairobi, Njega says it is striking that a woman found it harder to win election there than in rural and pastoral areas. He says only one woman out of 17 MPs was elected in Nairobi in 2017.
He concludes that the debate over gender in elective posts is elitist and disconnected from women’s rights.
