Women are requesting financial and logistical assistance to secure enough political seats to meet the Constitution’s two-thirds gender rule.
Women who presented their views to the Multisectoral Working Group on 2/3rds in Embu argue that under-resourced women cannot compete with men and secure at least one-third of available seats. Stella Ruto of the task force and Dr. Fridah Karani believe women candidates require financial and other support to make political contests more even.
She added that contributors also wanted political parties to be compelled by law to reserve a specific number of tickets for women candidates saying women stand no chance where men hog all the popular party tickets.
Saying that the resource-intensive political campaigning has become a discouragement to women candidates, presenters said women who attempt to win political seats but fail should be appointed to other public offices. They said the current system where those who lose retreat to languish in their misery on their own made women shy from offering themselves for elective posts.
Dr. Karani said the government itself should show leadership in the implementation of the 2/3rds gender Principle by ensuring those appointed to head ministries and departments are fairly distributed between genders.
By Steve Gatheru
