2027 test: Why Kenya cannot afford to leave women out of power

Women contribute to the economy across various sectors, including agriculture, yet remain underrepresented in political decision-making and leadership. [File, Standard]

Are women political participants or political actors? This is a question Kenya must confront honestly.

Can a democracy claim to represent its people when half the population remains significantly underrepresented in the rooms where decisions are made? Can women be called the backbone of democracy when they are remembered during rallies, mobilisation drives and campaigns, but overlooked when appointments are made, resources distributed, policies formulated and leadership positions shared?

Women are not merely a voting bloc. They are political actors, and political actors must have influence, not just visibility.

Kenya’s Constitution is clear on this matter. Article 27 guarantees women and men equal treatment and opportunities in political, economic, cultural and social spheres. More importantly, Article 27(6) requires the State to take legislative and other measures, including affirmative action programmes and policies, to redress disadvantages arising from past discrimination. Article 27(8) further requires the State to implement the principle that no more than two-thirds of members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender. Article 81(b) applies this principle directly to elective public bodies.

This is not a favour to women; it is a constitutional obligation.

What, then, is affirmative action?

Affirmative action is the deliberate adoption of measures to correct historical and structural disadvantages so that people who have been excluded can meaningfully participate and compete. It is not about lowering standards, but removing barriers that have prevented equally capable people from reaching the starting line.

Our Constitution goes further. Article 56 requires affirmative action programmes for minorities and marginalised groups to ensure their participation and representation in governance, alongside special opportunities in education, employment, economic fields, health services and infrastructure. Article 100 obligates Parliament to enact legislation promoting the representation of women, persons with disabilities, youth, ethnic minorities and marginalised communities.

The Constitution therefore recognises a simple truth: formal equality is not enough when historical inequalities continue to determine outcomes.

That is why Kenya has mechanisms such as the 47 county women representative seats in the National Assembly, the 16 nominated women’s seats in the Senate, special seats in county assemblies, the National Government Affirmative Action Fund and other programmes designed to widen access to opportunities.

However, affirmative action should not become a permanent substitute for genuine political inclusion. The ultimate objective must be a political system in which women do not need special mechanisms simply to be recognised as legitimate contenders for power.

We have made progress, but not enough. The numbers tell the story.

In the 2017 elections, only 23 women were elected from the 290 constituency seats in the National Assembly. In 2022, the number increased to 29. That is progress, but progress should not be confused with equality.

The current National Assembly has 82 women out of 349 members, approximately 23.5 per cent. The Senate has 21 women out of 67 members, approximately 31.3 per cent. Combined, women account for only about 24.8 per cent of Parliament.

At the county level, the situation is equally revealing. In 2022, only 115 women were directly elected as MCAs out of 1,450 elected positions. The total number of women in county assemblies, including nominated members, stood at 727, representing about 35.3 per cent.

There is another important statistic: women accounted for 49.12 per cent of Kenya’s registered voters in 2022. Nearly half of the electorate is female.

Yet women remain far from occupying half of the political decision-making space. That contradiction should trouble every democrat.

Grace Onyango broke the parliamentary barrier when she became Kenya’s first elected woman Member of Parliament in 1969. She entered a political world in which the corridors of power were overwhelmingly occupied by men.

She did not wait for history to become comfortable with her presence. She challenged a system in which women’s absence from leadership had become the norm.

Chelagat Mutai demonstrated that courage in political leadership has no gender, while Charity Ngilu challenged the country’s highest political ceiling when she sought the presidency. Wangari Maathai, meanwhile, showed that leadership does not always begin in Parliament.

Sometimes, it begins with a seedling or one woman refusing to remain silent.

Maathai planted trees, but she also planted courage. Her environmental activism led her to confront questions of democracy, human rights and accountability. Her journey from grassroots activism to becoming the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize remains a powerful reminder that leadership is not defined by the title one holds, but by the difference one is willing to make.

Kenya is not alone in this journey. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf demonstrated that a woman could lead Liberia after devastating conflict. Angela Merkel showed that political authority has no gender, while Margaret Thatcher broke political conventions in Britain. Jacinda Ardern demonstrated that compassion and strength can coexist in political leadership.

These women did more than occupy offices. They expanded the imagination of what leadership could be.

Political promises made to women must be treated as commitments, not campaign decoration.

During the 2022 campaign, President William Ruto and the Kenya Kwanza Alliance signed the Women’s Charter, promising, among other things, greater inclusion of women in leadership, economic empowerment, healthcare, education and protection from gender-based violence. Ruto specifically pledged that his government would implement the two-thirds gender principle and said women would occupy 50 per cent of Cabinet positions.

The Charter also contained economic commitments, including substantial support for women-owned enterprises and the Hustler Fund.

But four years into the administration, the question remains: where is the political power promised to women?

The question is no longer whether women deserve inclusion. The Constitution answered that in 2010. The question is whether political leaders are willing to honour it.

That question became even more urgent in June 2026, when the High Court declared President Ruto’s then-current Cabinet unconstitutional for failing to comply with Article 27(8). The 25-member Cabinet comprised 18 men and seven women, meaning women accounted for approximately 28 per cent. The court ordered compliance within 120 days, although Parliament subsequently appealed the decision.

This is not a theoretical debate. It goes to the heart of constitutional government.

If the Constitution requires that no more than two-thirds of an appointive body be of the same gender, women should not have to plead for space in the Cabinet. They are entitled to constitutional representation.

Healthcare is a women’s political issue

There is perhaps no clearer example of why women’s voices matter in decision-making than healthcare.

Women interact with health systems throughout their lives, from pregnancy, antenatal care, delivery and postnatal services to reproductive healthcare. They also shoulder much of the responsibility for caring for sick children and supporting elderly and vulnerable family members.

Yet the work women perform to keep families healthy is frequently invisible.

Kenya’s National Care Needs Assessment shows that women spend five times more time on unpaid care and domestic work than men, at roughly five hours a day compared with one hour. The World Health Organisation similarly reports that women perform about 76 per cent of unpaid care work globally, while accounting for approximately 67 per cent of the paid global health and care workforce.

Healthcare, therefore, cannot be separated from women’s economic empowerment, political participation and dignity.

When a mother spends an entire day in a hospital queue, that is a gender issue. When a woman leaves employment to care for an elderly parent, it becomes an economic issue. When a young mother cannot access quality maternal care, it is a governance issue. And when a family cannot afford treatment for a child, it is a political issue.

Kenya’s 2026/27 budget allocates Sh175.5 billion to health, including Sh19.1 billion for the Primary Healthcare Fund and Sh4 billion for the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund. The Sh110 billion figure sometimes cited in discussions about health is therefore not the current total national health allocation.

The bigger question is whether even Sh175.5 billion is enough.

The Abuja Declaration calls on African countries to work towards allocating at least 15 per cent of their national budgets to health, a benchmark the WHO continues to urge governments to pursue.

At the same time, Kenya’s 2026/27 budget allocates Sh591.2 billion to national security, including Sh252.1 billion for Defence, Sh144.7 billion for the National Police Service and Sh64 billion for the National Intelligence Service.

Security is important. No country can develop without it. But we must also ask difficult questions about national priorities.

What does security mean if a mother cannot access safe maternity care? What does national security mean if families are pushed into poverty by medical bills? What does security mean if women spend hours searching for medicine, water, childcare or healthcare?

Security is not merely the absence of war. It also means being assured that a child can receive treatment, an elderly parent can age with dignity, a woman can give birth safely and a family will not be financially ruined by illness.

That is why women must be at the table when national priorities and budgets are determined.

Kenya’s Generation Z has already challenged traditional ideas about political leadership.

The Gen Z movement demonstrated that young women can mobilise, organise, speak, negotiate, protest and lead from the front. Research on women’s participation in the Gen Z protests found that young women moved beyond passive support roles to take part in frontline mobilisation and leadership.

This generation is also growing up in an environment where educational opportunities have become more gender-balanced. Kenya’s 2026 Economic Survey shows that girls’ secondary school enrolment has slightly exceeded that of boys in recent years, while World Bank data puts girls’ lower-secondary completion rate at 104.1 per cent, compared with 98.4 per cent for boys in 2023.

These figures matter because a generation that has grown up seeing women as classmates, professionals, scientists, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs and university graduates is less likely to accept the argument that leadership is naturally male.

The future is bright, but it will not simply arrive. Building a more inclusive political system requires deliberate action, accountability and sacrifice now.

Women must move beyond being counted as voters to shaping the decisions that determine the country’s future. Political parties must open up their structures, leaders must honour their constitutional obligations, and voters must demand accountability from those seeking their mandate.

The 2027 elections offer another opportunity to turn the promise of equal representation into political reality. The test will not be how many women appear on campaign platforms, but how many gain the power to influence policy, budgets and public institutions.

Democracy cannot be complete while women remain on the margins of decision-making. They are not merely a voting bloc to be mobilised when elections approach; they are citizens with an equal claim to leadership and the responsibility of shaping Kenya’s future.

National Youth Leader, Jubilee Party, Kiambu County Woman Representative aspirant