At this rate, we won’t meet the gender rule in 50 years

With Law Society of Kenya petitioning the Chief Justice to advise President Kenyatta to dissolve the Parliament for failure to meet the two-thirds requirement, the struggle for the representation of women just took a sharp turn.

As we reflect on the first decade of the Constitution, how can we deepen our commitment to gender equality and the empowerment of women? Article 81(b) and 27(8) of the Constitution obligates all elective and appointive bodies to not have more than two thirds representative from the same gender. Furthermore, the articles commit the State to take progressive legislative and other measures to implement this constitutional principle. Ten years since we passed the Constitution, neither our elected politicians nor appointed officers have met this requirement nor have they have taken significant steps to do so.