Today the world marks the annual International Women's Day.
On this day, the political, social and economic achievements of women are celebrated.
For a long time, women had fewer rights than men in all spheres of life. In effect, this denied them fundamental rights essential to their well-being and empowerment.
Traditions and beliefs that consign women to domestic roles have been the biggest obstacles to national development. While they could have played an important role in ensuring food security, nutrition and economic development through businesses, male dominance has always ensured the potential of women is under-utilised.
All that is in the past as women increasingly play important roles in a previously male-dominated world. As the Government strives towards achieving gender parity, greater opportunities have been opened for women and the girl child has equal access to education. While releasing last year's KCSE results last week, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i noted that gender parity in schools is within sight.
Women in leadership roles at the corporate level have demonstrated they can do as well as - if not better than - men. The promulgation of the Kenya Constitution 2010 has seen great strides made towards gender parity as today women have equal rights with men. There are more women in leadership roles at the corporate, entrepreneurial and political levels than before.
Through affirmative action, women have equal rights to property inheritance. They are able to own land and have access to Government procurement opportunities. Access to loans for businesses is made easier by initiatives like the Women Enterprise Fund that has so far benefitted over 1 million women through the disbursement of loans amounting to Sh7.51 billion.
Yet despite all these gains, at least 38 per cent of women remain victims of domestic violence, according to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2014, signalling that more still needs to be done to ensure total gender parity by year 2030.
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