Ruto's 50-50 pledge: Are women at the table or left behind?

President William Ruto launches the Kenya Kwanza Wome's Charter in June 2022. [File, Standard]

President William Ruto came to power promising women a bigger share of political power, greater access to economic opportunities and better public services. Nearly four years later, women leaders and activists are asking a question that will increasingly shape the debate ahead of the 2027 General Election: how much of that promise has translated into change in their lives?

The record is mixed. The administration has established the Office of the Women’s Rights Advisor, expanded programmes intended to improve access to credit and pursued reforms in healthcare. Yet the pledge to reserve half of Cabinet positions for women remains unfulfilled, while questions persist over the implementation of gender equality measures, the reach of economic empowerment programmes and access to essential services.

The gap between political commitments and everyday realities is becoming a test of accountability, with women demanding more than campaign promises and policy announcements. They want a meaningful share of decision-making, economic security and public services that respond to their needs.

The Kenya Kwanza administration made its commitments explicit in June 2022, when Ruto, then a presidential candidate, signed the Kenya Kwanza Women’s Charter. The seven-point agenda covered economic empowerment, leadership, education, protection against gender-based violence, healthcare, clean energy and property rights.

Among the most prominent pledges was to allocate 50 per cent of Cabinet positions to women and implement the constitutional two-thirds gender principle in elective and appointive public positions within 12 months of taking office.

The charter also promised to direct half of the proposed Sh50 billion Hustler Fund to women-owned enterprises, double funding for school feeding, provide free sanitary towels to schoolgirls, support teenage mothers to return to school and establish a women’s rights agency under the Office of the President.

Other commitments included free diapers for newborns for their first three months, a framework for paying community health workers, action against female genital mutilation and abuse of domestic workers, affordable clean cooking fuel and stronger protection of women’s rights to matrimonial property.

Senator Tabitha Mutinda says the administration initially appeared to be moving towards Ruto’s pledge of equal representation, with women accounting for more than 40 per cent of appointments at one point. The appointments of former Cabinet Secretaries Aisha Jumwa and Peninah Malonza were among the gains she cites.

Political realignments and the formation of the broad-based government, however, created new competition for positions, threatening progress towards gender parity.

“The buck stops with the President,” Mutinda says, arguing that political negotiations should not have undermined the commitment to women’s representation.

As the appointing authority, she maintains, Ruto had the power to accommodate political allies without abandoning his promise. She says she would have preferred women to account for more than half of government appointments.

The dispute illustrates how women’s representation can become vulnerable when political parties negotiate positions to secure alliances and maintain power. Although women constitute a significant share of the electorate, their numbers do not automatically translate into influence over the distribution of political offices.

The challenge extends to Parliament, where women legislators must often lobby to secure support for gender-related legislation. Mutinda says political commitments do not always translate into votes, making coalition-building and sustained advocacy essential.

Kenya’s constitutional requirement that no more than two-thirds of members of elective or appointive public bodies should be of the same gender also remains a central test of the administration’s commitment.

The principle, enshrined in Article 27 of the Constitution, is intended to address structural barriers that have kept women underrepresented in public leadership. Its incomplete implementation, however, continues to raise questions about how political leaders can reconcile constitutional obligations with negotiations over power.

Daisy Amdany, executive director of Community Advocacy and Awareness (CRAWN) Trust, describes the administration’s record as mixed, pointing to the failure to achieve the promised 50:50 Cabinet alongside steps she considers significant.

Among them is the establishment of the Office of the Women’s Rights Advisor, created through an executive order in January 2023, and the appointment of Kenya’s first female Attorney-General.

Amdany says the developments demonstrate a degree of commitment, even though the government has not fulfilled its entire agenda.

The same scrutiny applies to economic empowerment programmes.

The Women Enterprise Fund and Hustler Fund, alongside newer initiatives such as the NYOTA programme, are intended to widen access to financing and economic opportunities. Their impact on women, however, depends on who receives the money, the terms attached to it, the businesses supported and whether the financing helps enterprises grow.

Ruto’s 2022 pledge to direct half of the proposed Sh50 billion Hustler Fund to women-owned businesses provides a specific benchmark for that assessment. The existence of a general credit programme does not, by itself, establish that the promised share reached its intended beneficiaries.

Amdany acknowledges that government financing initiatives have offered opportunities but says their impact has been uneven. The difficult economic environment has also complicated the delivery of promised benefits.

She urges women to remain engaged with leaders after elections rather than treating voting as the end of their political responsibility.

“Your role doesn’t end with voting. You continue to engage,” she says.

Her argument is that women must build stronger networks within political parties, government and civil society to influence decisions and ensure that their interests are not sidelined during negotiations.

On healthcare, Ruto promised improved prenatal and postnatal care, free diapers for newborns for their first three months and a cost-sharing framework with counties to support the payment of community health workers.

The government has since introduced the Social Health Authority framework and expanded the community health promoter programme as part of its broader healthcare reforms.

Community health promoters can help families access basic health information and services at household level, reducing the need for some patients to travel to health facilities. Their effectiveness, however, depends on adequate training, supplies, supervision and reliable payment.

Amdany says maternal healthcare initiatives and the work of community health workers have offered important support to women and families. She nevertheless acknowledges that access to healthcare benefits remains inconsistent.

Amdany argues that gains should be recognised without allowing outstanding promises to escape scrutiny.

She places Ruto’s performance on gender issues at between six and seven out of 10, saying the administration has demonstrated commitment but has yet to complete its agenda.

Her assessment also points to the need for women to exercise greater influence during political negotiations, when commitments can be pushed aside in favour of competing demands.

In Kibera, women activists are seeking to make accountability more practical by organising residents around the problems they want elected leaders to address.

Editor Ochieng says her civic engagement work is helping community-based organisations establish forums in five wards in Kibera and one ward in Lang’ata Constituency.

The forums bring residents together to identify local problems, organise community structures and agree on the priorities they expect elected leaders to address.

Ochieng says these priorities should shape political campaigns, rather than being displaced by promises made at rallies or handouts distributed during election periods.

“When someone comes to campaign, they should hear that our agendas in this community are these,” she says.

Residents, she argues, are taxpayers whose contributions should translate into development and accountable public services.

Ochieng says the aim is to keep development priorities visible beyond election campaigns, when political promises often dominate public debate but follow-up is limited.

Her assessment of Ruto’s tenure is sharply critical. She says the administration’s record has been defined by abductions and killings, citing her own experience as one of the people abducted during the period surrounding the 2024 anti-Finance Bill protests.

Ochieng argues that women must move beyond being targets of campaign appeals and become active participants in political decision-making.

“We need to be in that kitchen and cook and eat,” she says, using the metaphor to argue that women must help shape decisions rather than accept whatever benefits remain after political negotiations.

Ruth Mumbi, an activist with Women’s Collective Kenya, says the contrast between Ruto’s early promises and the economic pressures facing women remains stark.

Mumbi also raises concerns about teenage mothers, saying the President’s promise to support their return to school has not adequately addressed the difficulties they face after childbirth.

She says some teenage mothers are unable to leave health facilities after delivery because they cannot settle their hospital bills.

The accounts highlight the connection between healthcare costs, education and economic vulnerability. A young mother who cannot clear a medical bill may struggle to resume her education, while the absence of financial support can leave her dependent on relatives or expose her to further hardship.

The charter’s promise of bursaries for children of single mothers and a comprehensive return-to-school policy for teenage mothers was intended to address some of these barriers. Assessing delivery requires evidence of the number of young mothers supported, whether they returned to school and whether they remained in education.

The government’s wider commitments on school feeding and sanitary towels also have direct implications for girls’ education. School meals can ease the cost burden on households, while access to sanitary products can help girls manage menstruation and participate in school.

As the election approaches, women’s leaders are calling for closer scrutiny of campaign commitments, stronger political networks and greater public participation in decisions that affect their lives.

Mutinda argues that political alliances should not be allowed to undermine women’s representation, while Amdany says progress should be recognised while outstanding commitments remain under scrutiny.

Ochieng maintains that communities must identify their priorities and demand measurable results from elected leaders.

The test extends beyond the current administration. Political parties seeking women’s votes in 2027 will face questions about their own commitments to representation, economic empowerment, education, healthcare and protection from violence.

Nearly four years after Ruto signed the Women’s Charter, the debate is shifting from the promises made in 2022 to the evidence of delivery. The administration can point to programmes and institutional changes, while women’s leaders continue to highlight gaps in representation, implementation and access to public services.

The ultimate test is whether these commitments translate into a meaningful share of power and lasting improvements in women’s lives.