Kenya gets thumbs up for support to women

NAIROBI: Kenya has bagged a prestigious award for her efforts to bridge the gender divide and empower women. The African Gender Awards 2016 in Gender Mainstreaming was presented during the 27th Ordinary Summit of the African Union Heads of State and Government in Kigali, Rwanda.

Public Service Youth and Gender Affairs Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki said Kenya was recognised for commendable work advancing gender equality and women empowerment.

“The Ministry’s 2016 Gender Score card report outlined progress the country has made in the areas including health, employment and business, access to credit, access to and ownership of land, politics and decision making and education,” she said. Kenya was also honoured for rolling out compulsory and Free Primary Education programme which has increased school enrollment especially among girls.

The country also received a positive mentioned for setting up measures to tackle vices like early marriage and female genital mutilation.

The adoption of a multi sectorial approach in coordinating implementation and reporting on gender related instruments including Maputo Protocol, was also lauded.

Kenya was also recognised for her efforts to progress health through the free maternity health services and related initiatives.

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The country was also honoured for her efforts to increase women representation in various political spheres as provided for in the Constitution. The Gender Score Card which was introduced during the 25th Ordinary Session of Heads and State and Government in Johannesburg, South Africa details the progress of all 54 African Union Member States.  “The tool is intended to reflect progress being made towards in implementing gender policies across countries and the gaps in the status of women and men that exist,” she said. The score card aims to support member states accelerate implementation of their commitments in Africa as spelt out in Agenda 2063. The African Union hopes the score card can catalyse the achievement of gender equality and women empowerment in all spheres of life by the year 2030.

It was also recognised that almost all AU Member States have achieved at least one of the AU gender-related goals, such as promotion of health, education, employment and social welfare of women in their countries.