AGEYO'S ANGLE: A cry for the beloved women of Kenya

Of course, as a student of social science, I know that there could be any number of reasons for this apparent hesitancy on the women’s part. Perhaps, it was just reflective of the general shortage of women in government, or perhaps that women are more averse to taking such risks or maybe it was because of what we all know, that politics in Kenya is a man’s world.

Yes, it is now common knowledge that running for any political office in Kenya is one of the most treacherous undertakings a woman can ever get into. 

Study after study has demonstrated just how hostile our politics is to female candidates. It is no wonder that the two-thirds gender rule remains a mirage, more than 10 years after it was enunciated by the 2010 constitution. 

According to IEBC data, only 20 women made it to the ballot for the senate race in the last general election. And out of the 20, only three got elected, a paltry  15%. The National Assembly races had only 131 women reaching the ballot, despite the fact that we have 290 constituencies and still, only 23 got elected, a feeble 18%. MCAs did not fair any better.

Only 900 female candidates successfully went through the nominations, but a mere 98 of them actually got elected, translating to just 11%. Yet, according to a study by the Netherlands Institute for multiparty democracy, these women had to spend more money than their male competitors to get elected. 

The study found that in the 2017 general election, women running for the National Assembly for instance, spent an average of Ksh.23.6 million each, compared to Ksh.17 million spent by their male counterparts, for the mca seat, the women candidates spent more than double the amount put up by their male counterparts, forking out an average of Ksh.6.4 million compared to Ksh.2.9 million for the men. 

You see, the female politicians have sort of figured out that they are up against so many odds and so they throw everything they have into these contests, never mind that in most settings, men generally tend to have deeper pockets than the women, owing to historical reasons.

But still no guarantee of these women getting elected, even after parting with such fortunes. And that is because, first, traditionally, leadership in many communities has been reserved for men from time immemorial. 

Women are therefore forced to engage in more personal forms of campaigning. They will convene focus groups here, engage in door-to-door outreaches there and sometimes even face-to-face meetings. In many cases, they have to support this or that women’s project to make the connection. Unfortunately, all these are often more costly. 

In some communities, the women shy away from holding public rallies because these are often dangerous, with the risk of violence or even those prying questions about why a woman is hanging out late with many men at a public rally which would often end late in the evening. Such questions of course are never asked of the men, who may well be running for the very same seat.  

Further, the creation of special seats for women, has according to recent studies, bred a perception that the other seats are now reserved for men. And some of the men do not hesitate to use this against their female competitors. Furthermore, given the herd mentality that often characterises our politics, the women are forced to contest through the dominant political parties which are often more competitive and largely undemocratic.

This ladies and gentlemen is the true state of our politics. Forget what you hear in those rallies, forget the sweet promises the candidates will give us in this season. Forget the women-led cheering squads you will see  – warembo wa so and so – wamama this or that for so and so.

The truth is that we are still far from making this political field level it is still a man’s jungle. And this ladies gentlemen, ought to embarrass our political parties that preach water but drink premium wine, it ought to embarrass our security agents, it ought to embarrass us as the voters. 

After all these are our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our aunties. They are us. It is perhaps why former us president Barack Obama once likened this to leaving half of the football team outside the field and expecting to play a good game. That is my angle for the week.