Gender Empowerment and Global Democracy

Experiences from Kenya

Regina Gathoni Mwatha

Kenyatta University, Nairobi

Global influences connected with democracy and gender have impacted on women’s rights in Kenya. Although global forces have sometimes promoted gender equality in Kenya, the consequences for women have not always been positive. Global and national strivings for gender empowerment are not always compatible and indeed can clash in a developing democracy such as Kenya. So dilemmas can arise when trying to link global democracy and national democracy in ways that advance the position of women.

Many developments in the global arena since the 1970s have sought to promote gender equality, which is an essential ingredient of any meaningful democracy. The Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted through the United Nations in 1979. The UN also sponsored World Conferences on Women in Mexico City (1975), Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985) and Beijing (1995). The Beijing Platform of Action has been reviewed at the UN in 2000, 2005 and 2010 and remains a key reference point for gender politics. In addition, gender equality has figured in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Global arenas have also promoted important thinking around concepts of Women in Development (WID), Women and Development (WAD), and Gender and Development (GAD).

Although the Government of Kenya has steadfastly participated in these global activities around gender empowerment, this involvement did not translate into many gains for women on the national front before 1990. In early years the spokespersons for women’s rights in Kenya were largely wives of government ministers and other eminent personalities. The patriarchal leadership did not see these activities as threatening. The Mexico Conference prompted the establishment of a Women’s Bureau in the Kenya Government in 1975, but this office faced challenges of underfunding and understaffing that prevented it from fully meeting its mandate. Furthermore, the bureau was an ‘add-on’ process that did not mainstream gender across government. Nevertheless, the Women’s Bureau did oversee the global Nairobi Conference of 1985.

In the late 1980s women organisations in Kenya began to link women’s rights with wider human rights and the larger movement for a democratisation of the country. In 1991 the controversial section of the national constitution that prescribed a one-party state was repealed in favour of a multiparty system. However, the state resisted the global push for democracy at the national level, and this opposition reverberated negatively on women’s organisations in Kenya. Advocates of gender equality were painted as enemies of the state, and the general expansion of democratic space produced few specific gains on women’s issues. Similarly, the global Beijing Platform of Action did not bring immediate gains on the gender front in Kenya due to the continuing antagonism between the state and the democracy movement in the country.

In the new century gender empowerment has begun to be felt in Kenya since the introduction of multiparty politics. For example, the proportion of women holding parliamentary seats doubled from 4.1% in 1998 to 8.1% in 2002. The share of women in ministerial positions has risen from 5.8% in 2006 to 16.7% in 2008. Other increases have occurred among senior civil servants, ambassadors and local counsellors. During this time important legislation with positive effects on women has been passed. The Women’s Bureau has become a fully-fledged government department, and parliament in 2003 created a National Commission on Gender and Development, though underfunding has remained a challenge. In 2005 the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) for Kenya was, at 0.54, higher than in the first three National Human Development Reports.

However, gains have dwindled since 2008, when post-election instability again put gender empowerment and women’s rights on the back seat in Kenya. Global forces have done little to counter this negative trend. Although increases in democratic space – promoted in part by global forces – have had positive effects on the position of women in Kenya, the country continues to have low gender empowerment even when compared to the neighbouring countries and within the East African Community.

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