Why Senators are calling for incorporation of gender analysis in legislative scrutiny

Senator Veronica Maina during an interview on Spice FM, July 16, 2025. [File, Standard]

Senators have urged Parliament, County Assemblies and their respective legislative committees to incorporate a gender analysis in the scrutiny of laws, policies, programmes and budgets before them. 

The Senators, who were contributing to a motion on the mainstreaming of gender perspective in legislative and policy processes tabled by Nominated Senator Veronica Maina, called for consultation with gender-focused stakeholders to ensure gender-responsive governance.

Maina recommended that the National Gender and Equality Commission and the State Department for Gender develop clear guidelines and tools to support integration of gender perspectives in legislative, policy and budgetary analysis and ensure these are disseminated and adopted by relevant government and legislative bodies. 

“We are further urging the National Gender and Equality Commission and State Department for Gender to collaborate with the Kenya Law Reform Commission and County Assembly Service Boards to build capacity for gender analysis among technical and legislative staff,” said Maina. 

She urged the State Department for Gender to submit to Parliament a comprehensive biannual report detailing actions taken by Ministries, Departments and Agencies to promote gender mainstreaming, key achievements, emerging challenges, and proposed interventions. 

The Nominated Senator asked the Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare to continuously monitor the implementation of the resolutions and table a biannual report on the status of implementation to the House once they are done for review. 

Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei recalled that during the last Parliament, then Chief Justice David Maraga delivered an advisory opinion by the Supreme Court that Parliament was not properly constituted, having violated Article 27(8) of the Constitution on the issue of Two-Thirds Gender Rule. 

“There is an ongoing registration of voters. I encourage women, wherever they are, to go and register as voters and to vote when the time comes so that they are part of decision-making. I discourage women from the culture of tokenism in leadership,” said Cherargei. 

He pointed out that during the last general election in the National Assembly, 80 women out of 345 Members were elected, which translates to 23 per cent, stating it was unconstitutionally constituted because it does not meet the threshold of Article 27(3), (4) and (8) of the constitution. 

Nominated Senator Joyce Korir said the gender issue has become a challenge, recalling when she was a Member of the National Assembly, a ruling was made and it was true that the legislatures, ranging from the National Assembly, the Senate, to County Assemblies, are not properly constituted. 

Korir said the Senate need to address the issue because matters to do with gender do not only affect the women, but cuts across noting that several countries have tried in terms of making sure that they observe and implement the issue of gender parity in various leadership roles. 

She said that the Parliament of Rwanda has tried in terms of making sure it gives room to gender mainstreaming, to an extent that women are in a good position together with the men, saying that gone are the days when women were taken for granted. 

“Women have been in leadership for some time and remain parents and have families; there is a notion and a culture that has been built to the extent that people believe that women, when given a leadership chance, tend to forget their responsibilities,” said Korir. 

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale told the House that he was persuaded that it is through gender mainstreaming that you can provide equal benefits to girls, boys, men and women and that it was also through gender mainstreaming that you can prevent inequality. 

He said it was important for decision-makers, whether in government, parliament, organisations or cultural settings, to always endeavour to make a deliberate, strategic integration of the principle of gender equality. 

“There are people who think the African culture is anti-girl child; what we lack is a proper understanding. The issue of inheritance, which is very sensitive among some communities, especially mine, our culture is very clear on how a girl child, without struggling, will inherit land,” said Khalwale. 

Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana said that on elected positions, they need to tinker with the Constitution and the election laws, so that political parties are forced to nominate candidates while adhering to gender parity, since that was the only way to ensure fair representation.

Mungatana said that across the African continent, it is only in places where it has been put down into law that gender parity has become effective, whereas when it has been left out, then you will see the domination of the male gender over the female gender when it comes to political power. 

“Maybe it is time that we think about how we will tinker with the laws. Kenya is rated very highly, obviously not as highly as Rwanda, which is the highest in the continent in terms of gender parity, but Kenya is rated highly because of the many women who are in positions and also in the legislature,” said Mungatana.