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GENDER POLITICS AND PEACE

Gender and politics focus on the impact of women access to political positions with an eye
of a peacemaker. We analyze how equal representation of men and women in key positions
can have either positive or negative effects on promotion of peace. Concepts such as good
governance, democracy, political conflicts in comparison with when either the major
positions are held by men or women. Some gender studies analysts may say that a society
represented by women is more peaceful whereas some others may believe the opposite
.Societies with less gender discrimination are more likely to be peaceful; these are
communities where both men and women are represented. I however conclude that,
despite the positive outcomes of equal representation of men and women in politics,
accession to power should be based on individuals competence rather than the fact that a
candidate is man or a woman; hence encourage education for all i.e. girls and boys
Good governance and gender equality.
Governance describes the process of decision making and the process by which decisions
are implemented (UNESCAP, 2009). Good governance is a term used by development
experts to describe public institutions and how the latter manage public resources and
conduct public affairs. The management of the public treasure should be done in a way that
human rights are respected and social equality is observed. (UNESCAP, 2009). Good
governance describes a political system in which corruption, extra judiciary executions and
other forms of human rights abuse are banned. It is a decentralized kind of government that
sees the interests of the people as pillars. In regard to our topic on gender equality, we are
going to see who, between men and women, are more likely to be good governors than
another.
By their nature or socialization, women are generally pacifists than men and are more likely
to be good achievers in terms of good governance. The social character of a woman is
generally that of a caring person, a guide, an educator. Women are naturally understanding
and less aggressive than men in every society. Above, mostly in African societies, women are
known to be good managers who care for the interests of the family. Traditionally, an
African woman is known as a person of the home. Even though that title is criticized by
many of womens rights advocators, it shows at what extent a woman is deeply engaged in
the daily life of her familys properties.
Another point used by many commentators is that the reproductive role of women is a key
for them to be more effective in management, be it of the family or public property.
Women are also socialized to be empathic and compassionate and consequently are more
likely to avoid corruption and dirty enrichment. Women are good homemakers and smart
money managers. According to a research by the inspiration website (2009) the modern
woman is ultimate multi-tasked and can efficiently hold financial responsibilities even in the
public sector. As shown by the above discussion, it is clear that by their nature, socialization
and effect of modernization, women are able to effectively handle management positions.
Women seem to be good managers be it in the family matters or public sector. However,
we cannot say that this is a universal rule but a general understanding of womens
character. It consequently makes sense that equal representation of both men and women
in public management positions can constantly reduce the risk of involvement in bad
governance and its effects i.e. corruption and mismanagement of the public treasure.
Gender equality, democracy and human rights.
By being part of human rights respect, the equality between gender is necessary to promote
social justice and other fundamental rights. A political system with good representation of
both men and women is more likely to observe human rights promotion not only because
power is shared but also because the nature of that system itself reveals that people are
equal. More equal representation of women in economic and political life could be a
constraint for the government to use force. Here comes again the nature and socialization
of female framed as peaceful and more understanding. Human rights respect is all about
compassion and again women are understood to be more passionate than men by nature.
With two recent African examples of female political elite, it is argued that states presided
by female leaders promote the respect of human rights at a relatively higher level than
other states. Freedom of expression, freedom of opinions has remarkably improved in both
Liberia and Malawi.
Woman power and democracy
In the international conference held in Beirut on 10th June, 2011, human rights activists
from around the world analyzed together the role played by women during the commonly
known as the Arab Spring revolutions in the transitional processes towards democracy of
the Maghreb countries. This conference agreed that women have been shouldering the
responsibilities in all uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Syria. However, the
attendees concluded that women are still being systematically excluded from the decision
making processes of the same countries (especially Libya). They hence strongly
questioned the existence of democracy claimed by all the revolutions. With the above
example, it is clear that when it comes to fighting for democracy in the modern world,
women can play an important role. During the North Africas revolutions, it was so common
to see women expressing themselves on international media channels such as BBC, CNN, RFI
and that brought hope to the rest of the world. Unequal representation between male and
female can easily lead to such revolutions and disturbance of national security.
Equal representation of men and women on elective posts.
In many societies, women representation in elective positions has been a controversial
issue. Men accuse women to not believe in themselves and in their fellow women
candidates. Arguers say that women do not vote for women thus contributing to their own
discrimination. However, it is also said that in such situations, men may use their natural
influence on women to bring the latter to not believe in their own gender. We should
advocate for a society where womens social and political participation is unrestricted,
valued and rewarded. Such efforts help women to believe in themselves and encourage
them to support their fellow female candidates. Promoting women to be elected on major
positions is a very important tool in the fight for gender equality. In fact when women are
represented by women who have been elected (not just put on posts or co-opted), it is
easier to say that there is respect between gender than when female are just put on those
positions by men.
Gender and development issues.
When we talk about gender and development, we have an idea of development strategies
taken by decision makers of a country. The challenges of development ultimately bring
gender issues into focus. One of the issues is the role of gender in the development of a
country. Women have been facing number of challenges and denied economic
opportunities and autonomy. This state has led the woman to stay poorer and it is a direct
cause of disparities in crucial domains such as education, land ownership, support services
and participation in decision making. Things need to be done for more involvement of
woman in big issues of economic growth and development.
Some statistics
The following statistics were provided by the Office of International Research, Education
and Development. According to their website, women comprise 50% of the worlds
population and yet, they:
Are the majority of the 1.3 billion absolute poor
Perform 2/3 of all hours worked, but receive only1/10 of the worlds income
Own less than 2% of all land
Receive less than 5% of all support services
Receive only 1% of all agricultural credit
Produce more than half of all food produced (Africa 80%, Asia 60%, Latin America
35%)
Receive 25 and 40% less pay than earn for the same work when they are paid for
their labor
The above statistics really reveal at which point the difference between men and women
has created so much structural violence against women. As we conclude this part on gender
and politics, we have come up with the following points to make you gender sensitive and
contribute to the future
We should understand that gender difference is a created issue and hence can be
handled positively
Recognizing men and women as equal is of a major importance
Power sharing is not only necessary but also indispensable to achieve equality
between people
Everyone should be sensitive to gender issues
We need more knowledge on how to handle and manage gender differences
Womens needs should be made more visible as mens
We should find a way in whatever case to have women represented as men.
With the final point, we highly encourage women to get educated and government to
ensure equal education opportunities for every one because as noted, denying educational
opportunities to girls reduces the average human capital and thus not just growth directly
but also indirectly through lower investment a factor that is more likely to lead to much
poverty than any other gender based fact.
As we said at the beginning of this paper, we would be more satisfied if men were
represented because they as competent as men.
WOMENS PRESENCE & PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL LEADERSHIP: A
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Kenya womens presence and political participation in leadership and governance has a long history
dating from pre-colonial through colonial to post colonial period; e.g. the first woman Chief -Wangu
wa Makeri- (1901-1909), who defied patriarchal structures of culture and tradition, and rose to
become a formidable leader who is said to have brought development and peace among to her
community. Many unsung heroines accomplished similar feats; including those who actively
participated in the countrys liberation struggle of the 1940s and 1950s, thus demonstrating that
women can and do make a significant difference even in hostile environments.
Since Kenya attained formal independence in 1963, women have been seeking to effectively
participate alongside men, in governance and decision-making in all aspects of public life. But in the
first four decades of postcolonial rule, progress towards womens access to formal political
leadership positions, has been slow due to a combination of structural obstacles which include:
i) deeply embedded patriarchal socio-cultural values;
ii) undemocratic institutions and policy frameworks and
iii) low levels of civic and gender awareness. Due to the constricted formal political space,
most womens political engagement operated outside the State, with minimal connection or
support from the largely patriarchal State.
Kenya is a country known for its patriarchal kind of living. Women have not always been recognized
in political matters. Gender representation in a country can either be a source of conflict or peace.
There are people who view equal representation of gender to be a source of peace while others
argue that being male or female does not mean that you are good in leadership position but the kind
of intellect you have and how you deal with matters in your leadership position matters a lot. In our
paper we will be looking at a history of Gender politics and how the female gender have had to
struggle to be known and to take part in the countrys leadership and constitution making.
Gender politics started way during the colonial period where women had organized themselves into
groups i.e. mumikanda(work parties). Amongst the Agikuyu, we had the ngwatio and amongst the
Kamba we had mwethya. These groups were there to impose sanctions on their husbands who
erred and would be capable of instigating widespread civil disturbances incase their interests were
compromised. (Adawo, Gikonyo, Kudu, & Mutoro, 2012). As the colonialism gained ground, these
groups were redirected by the missionaries and they were now designed to civilize and uplift
modern women. This is where we now have the Mothers Union, the National council of women in
Kenya and these groups redirected their energies towards supporting the Nationalist groups.
(Adawo, Gikonyo, Kudu, & Mutoro, 2012). The womens movement in Kenya has its roots from these
traditional women groups in terms of their philosophy and organization.
The Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation, which was formed in 1952, initiated a new change in
the political arena in the country. Since 1963, there were no women in parliament for quite a long
period of time. In 1997, when the constitution negotiations were at the peak, there was only 3%
women representation in the forum. The major barriers to women taking part actively in the political
arena are due to factors like social economic barriers, the African culture and tradition which usually
bars women from taking key leadership positions, the political culture which has taken a slow time in
accommodating women in the parliament, the society being patriarchal and lack of resources which
could educate and give the girl child some insight on their role as leaders in the society and how they
could also be an agent of change in their societies. The change in the political arena for women in
Kenya started in 1992 through the National Council of Women of Kenya and African Womens
Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) through a womens convention in which the
women felt that there should be a change in the elections which were to be conducted in that year.
They declared that they wanted elective leadership and other leadership positions.
The 1992 womeens convention focused on a struggle on ensuring that there is an institutional
framework for gender mainstreaming and the results were an establishment of a national gender
commission, a ministry in charge of womens affairs, children and social services and a presidential
directive for 30% womens representation in public service, establishment of the womens fund e.t.c.
Between 1997 and 2010, the new constitution came about and major changes were done. During
the formation of the constitution, the then government which was KANU government did not want
the amendment of this constitution so that it can include women in the leadership position. To
quote the Minister of State Hon. Koech Office of the President, explained that there was no need for
this motion because male MPs represented everybody women and men and that there was already
one assistant minister for culture who was a woman. He noted that women were doing a wonderful
job bringing up children which was a very important role and, therefore, those who had time and
energy to struggle could do so. The constitution did not prevent women from coming to parliament.
In other words, women needed to leave some of these things to nature; leave the natural force of
political evolution to come slowly; and that because of our cultural setups, time was not ripe for
Affirmative Action (Kabira & Kimani, 2012)). These are some of the issues that women have had to
deal with in order to bring a change in Gender representation in the government.
THE WOMENS MOVEMENT: AGENDA SETTING AND ENGAGEMENT WITH
THE STATE &POLITICAL PARTIES
Globally, strong women's movements play a critical role in creating political space for female
participation in politics and in supporting engendered social change. The women's movement also
remains the best means of giving women Visibility & Voice. The Kenya womens movement has
played a key role as a change agent in respect to advancement of womens rights, gender equality,
social justice and engendering governance in general. However, its impact has varied over time and
in different contexts. The period prior to 1992, was one of total cooptation and silencing of womens
political voices by the Kenyan state that was intolerant to civil society organizing, unless such a
group condoned and promoted the oppressive political status quo. Capacity to organize and engage
politically was thus lacking Thus the only three national womens organizations allowed to function
at the time, namely, Maendeleo ya Wanawake (MYWO), National Council of Women of Kenya
(NCWK) and the Nairobi Business and Professional Womens organisation- operated strictly on
governments terms: they had to be non-political and non- partisan in all their actions and deeds
and had to limit their womens agenda, strictly to social welfare provisioning, promoting the role
of women as homemakers & mobilizing & organizing women at grassroots level into womens
groups to support agendas of male political elites. Between 1963-1992, there was little change in
womens status and State support for womens empowerment initiatives was minimal at best. The
government co-opted or controlled womens organizations, e.g. 1987 merger of MYWO with the
ruling and only political party-KANU.
The period since 1992 has been dubbed the Second Liberation political phase for Kenya, as it
marked the return to political pluralism in Kenya and the beginning of opening up of political space
for exercising basic and universally accepted democratic freedoms.
The opening up of political space facilitated womens political engagement/activism and created a
pathway for revitalization of the womens movement, as manifested in the emergence and
mushrooming of new womens NGOs, with radical feminist agendas for transformative change in
gender power relations. New and old women Leaderships and perspectives converged to
strategically utilize this political moment & to develop a women specific democratic agenda with
specific Action Plans and targets.
This was done in 1992 at a National Womens Convention under the theme: Womens Agenda for a
Democratic Kenya. The Convention that brought over 2,000 Kenya women representatives from
across the whole country demanded that the democratization be engendered; an overhaul of legal
policy framework, to remove all forms of discrimination against women in access to decision-making
positions; in employment, etc. Consequently, womens representatives put aside their differences
and united around the motto: Unity in Diversity for Womens Empowerment, as a strategy for
effective collective action towards the lobby the State and to facilitate the engendering process.
The 2010 Constitution has opened doors to the implementation of a long stalled gender agenda, and
provided the necessary constitutional mechanisms, for women to hold the State accountable and in
particular attain and surpass the long awaited 30% critical mass female presence in the next
parliament after the 2012 elections. But trends to date indicate that male resistance to AA remains;
and hence more than ever before women collective pressure is required to hold the state
accountable.
Womens agenda setting through Informal Strategies
Due to the limitations of formal methods of negotiating power, political space and womens rights in
Kenya, women have over time learnt to exploit skilfully the non-formal methods of influencing public
policy and governance, gaining access and influencing change, by overriding the formal structural
and procedural road blocks to access, agenda setting and influence.
In some cases, women have turned their stereotyped profiles of motherhood; as sex symbols and as
tools of oppression and subordination to their advantage, and used them to shape and influence the
agenda of democratic governance. Such was the February 1992 case of a group of elderly Mothers of
Political Prisoners who sustained for several months, an unconventional strategy of public protest
against the Kenyan State, combining a hunger strike and publicly stripping naked, as they mobilized
support for their demand for the release of their politically criminalized sons.
The mothers of political prisoners seized the political space for activism created by the return to
political pluralism in Kenya in December 1991 and riding on the energy, resolve and sense of
womens solidarity emanating from the National Womens Convention that had just concluded in
Nairobi. Through this novel and public way of lobbying, these women received attention of the
political leadership and support from the womens movement, Kenyans in general and the outside
world. Four prisoners were released in June 1992, and four more in January 1993 In their own way,
these mothers set a gender agenda for women in governance, and provided a demonstration effect
to women and society at large, of the many possibilities and strategic avenues that exist for political
engagement and for gaining access and influence to and in political leadership.
WOMENS ENGAGEMENT WITH POLITICAL PARTIES: ACCESS, AGENDA
SETTING AND INFLUENCE
Kenya women politicians as well as those working in civil society have to date been generally
unsuccessful in shaping or setting the agenda in political Parties. Parties have historically been highly
gendered institutions with male gatekeepers that incorporate women into party structures on a
different basis from men, and in ways Although women play important roles in campaigning and
mobilizing support for their Parties, rarely do they occupy strategic decision-making positions in
Party structures or benefit from political parties resources for conducting election campaigns. The
selection and nomination processes within political parties also tend to be biased against women in
that male traits are emphasized and often become the criteria for selecting candidates. Lack of
internal democracy, undemocratic membership recruitment and absence of substantive elections in
leaders recruitment, has been the rule rather than the exception. This democratic deficit within
political Parties, limited the recruitment and ascendancy of women to top positions in Party
hierarchies. This in turn limited womens political exposure and visibility, thus denying them
strategic political leverage for party nominations during national elections. But this may change
under the new constitutional dispensation and legislations that seek to democratize and engender
Parties and other governance institutions. Women now have an opportunity to use this legal
mechanism to demand inclusion, engagement in and democratization of party decision making
structures and processes. CMDs engendering of political parties program targets women in
political parties and through them, all other women in the country through civic education and
candidates training programs. CMD also plays an important bridging role; mediating between
political parties and other civil society organizations on gender issues pertaining to womens access,
representation and influence in political parties, parliament and other political decision-making
institutions.
What needs to be done to facilitate womens political representatives
capacity to deliver and be accountable?
There is need for:
i)Concerted and sustained engagement in combating the cultural values and norms that undermine
women seeking and in leadership and subverts democratic development.
ii)Democratizing and humanizing the electoral environment and change cultural mindsets that are
biased against women politicians running for competitive politics, particularly the gendered and
inequitable division of labor, power and gender roles within households.
iii)Reforming formal political institutions, including masculine Culture of parliamentary institutions
and make it more sensitive to gender concerns.
iv) Creating an enabling environment for Women MPs to effectively respond to the multiple burden
of Parliamentary representation, whereby women MPs are expected to represent all women,
children and the diversities of women's voices; their respective political parties, their geographical
constituency and other special interest representation; and v) defeminizing the responsibility for
representing gender interests and family welfare issues in parliament and make them a shared
responsibility between male and female MPs; for which all legislators would be held accountable for
their contribution to improving gender equity and equality as well as family welfare issues.
CONCLUSION
Women in Kenya have demonstrated their agency and capability as actors to assert rights and create
non-state alternative political platforms, for voicing their perspectives and visions and for acting
decisively in engaging formal governance processes. The current democratic political transition
underway in Kenya offers a unique opportunity for women, both ideological and practical, to inject
feminist perspectives in the restructuring of governance institutions and implementing laws and
policies that can facilitate the engendering of political institutions, in ways that realize gender
equality and justice. .
The democratic transition underway , affords a rare opportunity to apply lessons learnt from the
experiences of Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and other African countries that have attained the
minimum 30% gender threshold. For example, the process already started by womens organizations
by creating a governance accountability instrument (the National Womens Charter) should be taken
a notch higher to transform the Charter into an influential force, as was the case with the South
African National Womens Charter, which the ANC Womens League skillfully used to negotiate one
of the best engendered Constitutions in the world, from which we heavily borrowed while drafting
the Kenya Constitution. The ANC Womens League seized on a fluid political moment when the rules
of political engagement were in flux in South Africa, to demand greater and meaningful political
representation. The Charter only served as the platform to negotiate with male political party
gatekeepers, until they agreed to develop internal accountability rules within the ANC to ensure the
ANC party voluntarily agreed to comply with the minimum 30% womens quota. Similar strategies
can also be developed here at this political moment when the political environment is currently fluid
and in a chaotic/ uncertain state.
In so doing, there is also need to ensure that attention is paid to develop viable criteria and process
of attaining quality political leadership. There is need to set criteria and mechanisms for enforcing
accountability among political office seekers, bearing in mind that once in government, some female
and male politicians may only symbolically stand for women and other citizens, rather than
genuinely and substantively represent or act for for them.
There is also need to build and strengthen alliances with gender male champions, within and outside
the formal political system, as it is these kinds of strategic alliances that enhance the capacity of any
interest group to become influential in asserting and advancing a desired agenda in different
contexts.
Like many other African countries, Kenya is a society dominated by conservative ideologies that
assert, normalize and legitimate widespread gender inequalities best manifested by the under-
representation of women in political institutions. Elections, under the FPTP electoral have proven to
be an unsuccessful avenue for women to access political office. Despite concerted efforts by women
activists to build female political leaders political capacity and that of voters since the first 1963
parliament, only a total fifty (2.71 percent) of 1,846 elected members of parliament have to-date
been women. At the same time, the implementation of Gender Quotas has become a hostage of the
institutional weakness of Kenyas electoral system and the unyielding political culture of winner-
take-all electoral system and the deeply embedded patriarchal power structures. As noted earlier,
the FPTP electoral system is not conducive to promoting gender equality in political representation.
The time to start the process of lobbying for the amendment of the Elections Act so that it yields a
pure PR electoral system is now. There is also need to guard against falling victim to the growing
politicized ethnic identities, which may further constrain the development and support of a common
feminist strategy on key gender and justice issues. It also serves to remember that as we approach
2013 elections, feminist ideals do not matter, as these upcoming elections are clearly not about
issues or ideologies but only about securing the best and most expedient political strategies to
maximize on the votes. It is a numbers game under our FPTP electoral system.
It therefore needs to be underscored that women political representation does not take place in a
vacuum but largely depends on both the manner in which women were elected to positions of
power, as well as the structural nature and culture of existing political institutions (political parties,
the State etc). The latter determine whether women can gain access to and capacitate
transformation/democratization of governance and also mainstream a gender responsive culture.
Furthermore, women politicians cannot set this agenda on their own and effectively/decisively
transform governance without the backing of womens organizations and the citizenry as a whole.
Womens equitable and effective political representation should not be treated as a womens issue
but a national governance issue, to which all Kenyans have a responsibility to contribute.

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