With the exception of Grace Onyango who won the Kisumu town seat in 1969, 1974 and 1979 and Beth Mugo in Dagoretti in 1997 and 2002, all women parliamentarians since Kenya’s independence represent rural voters. However, in present-day Kenya these two constituencies can still be categorised as peri-urban.

The irony is that the research effectively debunks the old assumption that rural voters are a marginalised lot who have been denied access to resources and information on political issues as they affect them. The research shows clearly that more women participate in the constituencies where candidates are women.

The study was carried out in Nairobi, an urban district and Kitui, a rural district among women of voting age. However a striking revelation in the comparison between Nairobi and Kitui districts shows that the latter has a higher percentage of registered voters than Nairobi. Also there was a high consistency in response from Kitui district on every aspect of political processes compared to Nairobi.

But despite this overwhelming show of support by mainly rural women for other women, the study indicates that of the 9,780,343 females of voting age only 4,830,003 are registered voters countrywide. The missing numbers from the whole translates to 50.6 percent of eligible female voters countrywide and this information could be well utilised to leverage the power balance in favour of women.

However, Ms Betty Maina, the Executive Director of the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM), brings in an interesting perspective into the debate: “It could be that urban women have found alternative avenues for solving social problems as they affect them,” she adds. “They have found private solutions to public problems in the area of security, education and access to credit with which to organise their personal and business finances.”

The good news from the study is that 54.5 percent of the respondents agreed that Kenya would be a better place if more women were in elective politics. According to the study, a fundamental attitude change will occur when women participate in the political and governance processes of a country. There is a greater likelihood that overall policy will better reflect the needs of all citizens.

However this positive outlook is tempered by the revelation that female voters were generally receptive to women in leadership positions at the civic and parliamentary level but not at presidential level.

The research is particularly timely for women’s organisations involved in advocacy work to increase the political space for women. The leadership are agreed that it is time to engage in a deep soul search if they are to tailor their interventions to the realities that women seeking elective office must encounter on the one hand and meeting the expectations of voters on the other hand.

According to Ms Olga Karani of the Centre for Psychological Research, who were commissioned by the LKWV for the research, more women participate in constituencies where the candidates are women.

A review of the voters’ roll reveals that five of the nine constituencies represented by elected women parliamentarians have a higher number of registered female voters compared to male registered voters. They are: Kitui Central (Hon. Charity Ngilu), Kitui West (Hon. Nyiva Mwendwa), Tetu (Hon. Prof. Wangari Maathai), Marakwet East (Hon. Jebii Kilimo) and Butula (Hon Prof. Christine Mango).

The researchers say while it cannot be conclusively stated that these women voted purely for women candidates, this pattern should not be treated as coincidental.

An important research finding was that women do not vote for a woman candidate because of her gender: “Rather they are interested in whether the candidate, has a strong election agenda that resonates with them,” says Ms Karani. High on their list of priorities is the suitability of the candidate for the job and a demonstrated capacity for performance.

However, there are real barriers in the path to women’s effective participation in the electoral process. Long distances to voting centres, the lack of national identity cards to facilitate registration on the voters’ roll, poverty and family concerns are just some of the barriers. Of the reasons cited by women for not voting, the most telling one is that they did not think that their vote mattered and they failed to see how one more vote would make an impact on the overall result. Respondents cited unfulfilled electoral promises by politicians as a contributor to their apathy.

According to Mrs Ida Odinga, the chair of the LKWV, had all the women who were registered cast their vote in 2002 showed up at the polling stations countrywide there would have been no less than 106 female members of parliament.

“We at the Kenya League of Kenya Women Voters must take the cue to ensure that voter education is prioritised ahead of the next general election so that women will turn out in large numbers to vote,” she added.