African Woman and Child Feature Service

“Parliament should be in the forefront of creating a climate of intolerance to prejudices and of customary and other practices that perpetrate the belief in male superiority and female inferiority. Parliament needs to send a clear message to the nation that values that carry prejudices against women need to be assessed and changed.”

1995 study on women in the South African Parliament.

 The above quote speaks of an opposite situation in the Kenyan context, where affirmative action has been viewed as a way of giving women easy options, especially in political leadership.

Attempts to make sure affirmative action becomes law in a country that prided itself as having hosted the third UN Conference of women in Africa has been marred with sideshows and arguments that have seen the Bill either thrown out of Parliament or excuses given as to why Parliament cannot pass it.

Rwanda, for instance, entered the Guineas World Book of Record as having the highest number of women in decision-making positions, which currently stands at 49.5 per cent.

In countries where Affirmative Action has worked, political will is required before any legislation can be enacted. For example, even though Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa has got a rich legacy, the one that is standing out is not just the space he created for South African women to participate in public life and as citizens. It is his understanding of leadership.

It is a known fact in ANC circles that Mandela tried to push for a fifty per cent quota for women in elections, settling for thirty per cent when it became apparent that the latter would not fly. This has seen the richest country in the continent having, for the first time, a Deputy President, a woman.

Back home, the political leadership on Affirmative Action has been wanting. On April 23, 1997, when then MP Phoebe Asiyo begged to move the Motion on women’s participation in politics, popularly known as Affirmative Action Bill, it was a steppingstone for women’s issues to be discussed in Parliament.

The Affirmative Action Motion’s aim was to compensate for the absence of women representatives in elective offices from grassroots to the national level and up to policymaking organs.According to Asiyo, the Affirmative Action provision commits not only the Government, but also political parties to nominate a third women candidates to participate in the National Assembly as well as local authorities’ elections.

She says the Constitutional amendments she proposed would have enabled women candidates from political parties to contest two parliamentary seats in each Province, without any physical boundary.

Saying there can never be democracy without the political and decision making involvement of 50 per cent of the population, representation of women in political parties, Parliament and local authorities will bring a different perspective in politics.

Contributing to the Motion then, now Energy Minister Kiraitu Murungi said: “There is no woman who is a chairman of any political party, even opposition parties. There is no woman who is a secretary-general, treasurer or national organising secretary. We are not trying to have a holier than thou-attitude, but all we are saying is that we have a collective responsibility to include women in the mainstream of Kenya politics by bringing in measures, which will ensure that they are elected to top political decision-making positions.

“We should be ashamed of ourselves that out of a Parliament comprising of 200 members, only six are women. This is clearly unjust and it is upon us to make sure that at least 30 per cent of MPs in this House are women. This is an election year and this is not a Motion between Asiyo and others, it is a Motion for those who support women and those who do not,” (Hansard; April 1997)

But while the Motion was supported by a number of male MPs, others opposed it, arguing it would further marginalise minorities.

It is worth noting that when it comes to women’s issues, men suddenly champion the rights of the minority.

Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, the former member for Kimilili, told the House: “I have listened to the honourable Member of Parliament totally distorting the meaning of the words “affirmative action.” If affirmative action is about helping the minority, for example in the USA, affirmative action would be focused on Jews. There are less Jews than African Americans in the USA. Affirmative action is not about helping minorities but about strengthening the hand of the disadvantaged, where the disadvantaged are the majority. Like in the commercial sphere at independence, affirmative action is to remove hurdles in the path of the majority. No country can boast of its being in transition towards democracy if it retains institutional primordial, sentimental and attitudinal hurdles in the path of more than 50 per cent of its population”.

The Affirmative Action Motion debate was defeated, evidence enough that after 34 years of independence, Parliament and the Government had no real interest in gender equity.

Asiyo has consistently argued that Affirmative Action is the only way to advance the cause of women.

Arguments that Affirmative Action goes against African tradition ring hollow.

The counter argument has been that tradition is conveniently used to continue the oppression of women and retention of power by African men, who are in many ways far removed from the traditions they pretend to uphold.

In being asked to support Affirmative Action, MPs were not being asked to elect women. They were being asked to ensure that each political party included more women candidates among the nominees presented to the electorate.

And when Beth Mugo (Dagoreti) re-introduced it April 12, 2000, almost three years after Asiyo, she told the House Affirmative Action was just a temporary measure to give women a chance to run the same race as men.

She said even though women were capable, historical injustices had prevented them from being at par with men.

But those opposing the Motion argued that women could fight their way through and win more seats than men.

And even though the Motion was passed, the issue was again taken to the Constitutional Review process, where the Bomas and Wako drafts recognised Affirmative Action as one of the principle clauses within the Constitution.

Looking back, the Affirmative Action journey has been laced with a ping-pong mentality and there is a saying that no nation ever rises above the extent to which it holds women in bondage.

It follows that the attitude of male leaders towards their female compatriots must be one of the key yardsticks of their leadership.

As we celebrate the International Women’s Day, we should learn two lessons from Mandela’s life: To challenge our own socialisation, as he did by striving for equal representation and partnership between women and men, and to feminise our understanding of leadership, the real secret behind the miracle that is Mandela.If we did, the world would be a happier and safer place for all.