Interview: Kenyan women still face many hurdles in political participation

Adverse social attitudes, financial constraint and violence are hampering Kenyan women from seeking a political position in election, despite legislative designs to empower them, a woman right campaigner said.

Kenyans will be voting in August in a process that allows them to elect the president, governors, senators, members of Parliament, woman representatives and members of the county assembly.

The position of woman representative does not attract male contestants since it is specifically designed for women, while other seats are open for both genders.

Despite such designs, it remains a challenging process for the vying women, according to Angela Ngoizi, Programme Officer of the Women and Governance programme at the FIDA-Kenya, a federation of women lawyers.

The patriarchal system in Kenyan's societies is a challenge to women due to its creation of perception among the people that politics is a reserve for men.

"Most Kenyan societies are still struggling with the fact that women can be leaders in this day and age," she told Xinhua in an interview, adding that financing their campaigns equally comes as a struggle.

Ngoizi said women are marginalized economically and tend to have less financial resources than their male counterparts.

"Campaigns in Kenya require financial muscle to ensure success both from the point of party primaries up until campaigns," she said.

Procedurally, all but independent candidates are subjected to nominations undertaken by the respective political parties prior to the general election where they face off with opponents from other parties.

However, at this point Ngoizi said women face another challenge: unfair party nomination.

"In some instances party officials do not carry out fair nomination processes and give party tickets to those (men) with more money to contribute to the party. Women candidates thus get locked out of elective politics at this point," she said.

At the same time political violence, both physical and emotional, affects women's participation in active elective politics, Ngoizi observed.

In the 2013 general election, only 16 women were elected out of the 290 parliamentary seats open for either male or female contestation.

No woman was voted in as a governor or senator after 18 women had been nominated into the Senate with one representing the youth and another, persons with disabilities.

Eliminating these obstacles and encouraging women's participation in the political process would take steady efforts from all stakeholders including society, family and political parties, she observes.

Ngoizi said continuous civic education is important to changing the society's attitude towards women.

"Additionally, more and more women need to be encouraged to vie for elective seats so that over time, the concept of women in leadership is accepted," Ngoizi said

Although she advised women to use low-cost avenues for campaigns such as television, radio and social media, the officer identifies private institutions as a source of financial support that could bail them out of campaign financing hurdles.

Family support is also significant to female aspirants' success, she said,

Ngoizi also said called for continuous lobbying on political parties to ensure that women enjoy political equality on the party level, while acknowledging the existing legislative framework's role of safeguarding women's political participation.

"The Constitution safeguards the rights of women to participate in elections, Electoral Code of Conduct also stipulates the conduct of parties as well as their responsibilities towards women aspirants," said Ngoizi. Endit