Only a pink revolt will save women

The complaints about London taxi cabs had always been that women did not feel they had a choice in their security or comfort because the cab companies overwhelmingly would hire male drivers. But in 2012, the pink revolution led by the ‘Pink Ladies’ taxi company, would guarantee a woman driver with every taxi. This simple change in management style drastically altered things for women, providing employment while increasing safety and comfort for users.

Kenya needs a pink revolution in the political arena.

The ‘Duale’ Gender Bill had an admirable and simple intent. What the Gender Bill wanted was to ensure that the Two-thirds Gender principle becomes transmuted from rule to law. By allowing for changes in articles 81, 97, 98 and 177, there would be provisions for special seats to which female political aspirants would be allocated space within the National Assembly should the elections outcomes not meet the required gender inclusion threshold.

The social science was quite bad. The creation of special reserved seats would automatically deign female aspirants be excluded from the party nominations on the notion there are reserved seats for women so the other elected positions belong to men. The extra positions would also result in a surge in the wage bill, a financial point that opponents of the bill harped on, stating that allowing for such financial demands would open the floodgate for other interested parties to also make a case for inclusion, further stretching resources.

Finally, there were claims that the extra seats for women would not necessarily translate into greater representation for women in the electorate, seeing as the women nominated to the special seats automatically adhere to the patriarchal power structure of their political parties, and not necessarily the interests of women.

Even so, the increase of women legislators in parliament was still a laudable goal and would certainly have made a difference in how the house business was conducted.

After two attempts, it appears that the battle for political gender inclusion in the National Assembly has gone silent.

Instead, the focus is now on The Election laws amendment bill, The Election Laws (Amendment) Bill and the Election Offences Bill. The bills essentially have changed the political landscape permanently.

The bills lock in aspirants after the internal party nominations process, making it impossible for losers to jump ship and seek election nomination under other party vehicles as has been the trend in the past.

As Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri stated, “this was a significant step toward political maturity of the country, it’s important to ensure that all parties are respected and that candidates respects the end results of polls.”

But the reality is, the two bills do not take into consideration the dynamics within the political parties. Thus far, 15 governors have demanded automatic nominations from their respective parties, which in itself will be an affront to the democratic process.

Further, the truth remains that cronyism, patronage and nepotism are rife in political parties and those with ample resources and the right connections can easily buy support from their parties and gain nominations. Most importantly, in the event of an undesired outcome, an aspirant is forced to abandon his ambitions, even though he has a democratic right to run in the election.

The worst effect is on women aspirants. Automatically, all nominations for women are guaranteed when it comes to seats already reserved for women, e.g. the women’s rep. the patriarchal structure will then state that since women have their automatic nominations all the other elective seats are for men. Women will then not get a chance to compete, nor will they get support through nominations.

Regardless of their influence and popularity on the ground, women aspirants will not be able to competitively stand against incumbents even in the women’s reps position due to existing patronage, cronyism and favouritism.

This is the same argument that challengers are and have been making against the anti-party hopping bills that incumbents are given an unfair advantage, and that challengers to seats cannot possibly face a fair election. Some incumbents have already begun dictating that they should receive automatic nominations after all.

The effect this has on gender inclusiveness is devastating. No longer are we talking about empowering more women towards running and aspiring for political office, we have now herded these women and locked them into 47 seats only, and reduced their participation nationally across all political parties.

There is a time to play the boys’ game and then there is a time for girls to make up their own game. I propose that a women-centred ‘Pink Party’ be established, one that allows for political aspirants with ideologies and principles that not only address the concerns of the women in the electorate but that can raise the standards of party politics nationally to issue-based instead of ethnic mathematics that support the patriarchal and detrimental vices of democracy in Kenya.

Only with women in party leadership can there be broader inclusiveness for women, youth and people with disabilities within the political landscape.