We can’t fix gender imbalance in public office by enforcing law

What a man can do, a woman can do even better – so the adage goes. Unfortunately, this has not proved true for women seeking space in the highly competitive Kenyan political scene. For many women candidates, the battle has often been too bruising and at times outright brutal. We therefore salute all the courageous women who ventured into the race in the 2017 elections.

Special congratulations to those elected governors: Joyce Laboso for Bomet County, Anne Waiguru for Kirinyaga and Charity Ngilu for Kitui.

Likewise we celebrate the women senators: Margaret Kamar in Uasin Gishu County, Susan Kihika in Nakuru and Fatuma Dullo in Isiolo. Kudos also to the 23-year-old Suzanne Silantoi Lengewa who made history by not only being the only female candidate for the Nairobi Senatorial seat, but also the youngest. Though she came fourth out of the seven candidates, she demonstrated her mettle in a male dominated field – especially as an independent candidate.

Whereas women representation in the National Assembly also increased to 22 compared to 16 in 2013, Kenya still trails in the region. It does appear that the strategies that have so far been employed to raise women numbers do not seem to be yielding quick results. A change of tack is necessary if we are going to open space for women in public leadership.

In their insightful paper – A Modest Manifesto for Shattering the Glass Ceiling – Debra Meyerson and Joyce Fletcher compare women leadership in a male dominated world to tall people trying to live in a short people’s world. In such a world, everything is designed to accommodate and be convenient for short people – table heights, doorways, mirror levels, bus heights, toilet seats, etc. To live in such a world is not only inconvenient for tall people, but at times can be injurious, especially as they hit their heads on door posts, bump their knees under desks, or injure their backs on low stools.

In an attempt to remedy this situation, short people often employ various approaches. First is Assimilation – teach tall people to act like short people.

For example, train them to stoop to fit in the doorways. In gender matters, women have been urged, and at times trained, to behave like men. Unfortunately this has often backfired against women.

Special seats

Second is Accommodation – fix some of the structural barriers to accommodate the tall guys. For example, build six-foot-high doors in the back of the building and purchase desks that don’t knock their knees. This may be the thinking that gave birth to special seats for women in our National and County Assemblies. But, men tend to restrict women to those seats.

Third approach is Celebration – celebrate the differences of tall people. Tall people stand out in a crowd, and they can reach things on high shelves. Therefore, assign them tall people’s jobs – in warehouses, basketball, etc. In our context, this conception categorises certain jobs as being for women – teaching, nursing, secretaries, etc. The rest of life moves on without them.

According to Meyerson and Fletcher, such efforts have not yielded requisite results, primarily because the world of short people cannot be repaired with piecemeal fixes. Indeed, the place of women in leadership, especially in the African context, is a deeply embedded cultural misconception that requires slow but persistent transformation.

This cannot be achieved simply by enforcing legislation, especially for elective offices, but through carefully crafted education of the masses and role modelling by successful women leaders.

Where women have succeeded in leadership, people have had no difficulty granting them opportunity. That is why the few who have successfully attained key positions must demonstrate to all and sundry that for sure, what a man can do, a woman can do even better.

- The writer is the Presiding Bishop of Christ is the Answer Ministries (CITAM).

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