By Stephanie Wangari
There is often a preconceived notion of how women parliamentarians should look, speak or behave, the National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Shollei, has said.
This, she says, discourages and slows down some female leaders from pursuing legislation as well as makes them cower from speaking up about issues, especially those that affect women.
“The media often perpetuates the problem by stereotyping women MPs and especially by objectifying and sexualizing them and over-emotionalizing their comments and behaviour. Social media then creates a ripple effect around such behaviour with disproportionate impact,” she says.
During an interview with this writer, Shollei said women in Parliament still face numerous obstacles to being treated as equals in politics, despite their increasing presence in the political landscape.
While supporting her sentiments, Shollei pointed to the Reproductive Health Care Bill, 2019, sponsored by Senator Susan Kihika who is now the Governor of Nakuru County.
The Bill sought to provide a framework for the regulation of reproductive rights in women including family planning, assisted reproduction and safe motherhood.
Kihika would face criticism from lobby groups, the State, and the church, among others, with most saying that the Bill sought to legalise abortion contrary to the Constitution.
“The Governor was bullied on social media primarily due to misunderstanding and, as a result, the Bill did not proceed far in the legislative stages,” said Shollei.
Shollei, who is also the Uasin Gishu Woman Representative, said women have less representation in the National Assembly, hence, some bills that directly affect them may sail through despite women strongly opposing them or vice versa.
In 2020, for example, former President Uhuru Kenyatta signed an amended part of the Marriage Bill into law. The bill had faced criticism from women groups and parliamentarians and after it was passed in the National Assembly, female members of Parliament stormed out of the house in fury.
Previously, the law gave the wife veto powers to their husband’s choice of another wife but men in the House pushed to drop the clause.
“When you marry an African woman, she must know the second one is on the way, and a third wife… This is Africa. Under customary law, women or wives you have married do not need to be told when you’re coming home with a second or third wife. Any lady you bring home is your wife,” Suba East MP Junet Mohammed argued while debating on the matter.
In a rejoinder, however, former Narok Woman Representative Soipan Tuya (currently the Environment Cabinet Secretary) said: “If you are the man of the house, and you choose to bring on another party – and they may be two or three – I think it behoves you to be man enough to agree that your wife and family should know.”
At the end of the day, the women lost, as they had fewer numbers and the amended clause was bound to sail through, anyway.
It is during such moments that Shollei believes the two-thirds gender rule would come in handy in legislating issues that directly affect women.
She opines that the amendment of this bill would have swayed in a different direction if there were more women in Parliament.
“Without the [gender] composition, it was highly unlikely for the passing of the Bill because some of the proposals were more inclined towards benefiting men than women, particularly as regards the controversial provisions on the recognition of polygamous unions,” said Shollei.
“In my humble opinion, if the National Assembly had been composed of more women, perhaps the Bill would have passed in a different way to ensure more protection of women in marriages,” she added.
Historically, women have had less representation than men, even though they make up 50 percent of the population.
Over the years, however, there has been an increase in the number of women MPs with the introduction of the Woman Representative seats, more female elected leaders and nomination seats.
Despite the addition of the Woman Representative seat, Kenya is still struggling to adhere to the two-thirds gender rule, a constitutional requirement that requires that no gender should occupy more than two-thirds of appointive and elective bodies.
There have been numerous attempts to amend the Gender Bill with no success.
The final bill proposed by Gladys Shollei is a bit different as it proposes an increase to the number of electoral units designated for women from the current 47 to 136.
It also seeks to increase the number of senators from the current 67 to 100 members.
“Clause 5 of the Bill proposes to amend Article 98 to provide for the election of two members of the Senate of each gender by the electorate in the counties. The clause also proposes the nomination of four persons with disability and two youths,” reads the Bill.
In the National Assembly, Shollei wants the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to create electoral units that will be designated for women at least 12 months before a general election.
Shollei believes that the bill will sail through, citing that President William Ruto’s administration is focused on ensuring the Constitution is amended and the two-thirds rule is finally achieved.
“We have to take cognizance that Parliament is a House of debate and at the end of the day most matters are decided by way of a vote. Without the requisite numbers to support the women agenda most issues may never sail through. This is why we must actively champion to have equitable gender representation through the implementation of two third gender rules as espoused in the Constitution of Kenya, 2010,” says Shollei.
Shollei argued that having more women MPs helps in the tabling of more bills that affect women and debate on the issues as well as through departmental committees.
"Women are generally inclined to contribute and debate on social matters particularly those that touch on women and children. Also, we cannot ignore the maternal nature of women hence the need to protect the most vulnerable,” says Shollei.
"The biggest challenge is the number of women leaders in parliament. Having more women leaders in parliament will lead to better outcomes regarding the passing of bills that directly affect women and advocating for women’s issues," she added.
How women fared in the 11th and 12th Parliaments
The 12th bicameral parliament consisted of 416 members. Of this, 97 members were women.
During this time, 499 bills were transacted and out of this, women sponsored 39 bills.
According to Mzalendo, 18 women MPs from the two Houses sponsored bills during the life of the 12th Parliament.
The 11th Parliament had 349 seats. Women had 86 seats i.e. 47 Women Representatives, 21 Members of the National Assembly and 18 Nominated Senators.
Between March 2013 and June 2015, women sponsored 9 out of 110 Bills in the National Assembly. This represents approximately 8% of the total Bills.
In the Senate, women sponsored 9 out of 49 Bills between March 2013 and June 2015. This represents approximately 18% of the total bills.
This means that women are still lagging behind when it comes to sponsoring bills in parliament.
There are specific bills that have been brought to the floor of the house that are more inclined to women-related issues. Examples of such bills are the Marriage Bill, the Child Bill, the Reproductive Bill and the Gender Bill.
During the course of this research, it was necessary to understand how women voted in these specific bills for those that had gotten to the third reading. However, it was difficult to tell due to the nature in which voting happens in parliament.
Res Res, an Assistant Hansard Editor, backed this finding saying that unless the vote is taken through division, which shows the name of the member and how they voted i.e. nay, yes or absent, then it is difficult to know exactly how any member voted.
“If the question is put and agreed to without the house claiming a division, then it would be assumed that all Members consented to the matter,” said Res Res.
“On the other hand, if female members protest a vote by walking out of the chamber, but then the vote is carried (agreed to), there is no specific way of registering all the female members who walked out, save to say, "Female Members of Parliament withdrew from the Chamber" or "Several Members withdrew from the Chamber,” she added.
The National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gladys Shollei says that the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA) has played a major role in the realization of bills that affect women.
Other than sponsoring and debating the bills, Shollei says women have been vocal in advocating women's issues through departmental committees.
Shollei specifically mentioned a story done by the BBC titled ‘Sex for work’ where some women were subjected to sexual abuse to keep their jobs at British-owned tea farms in Kericho.
“During that time, Hon Beatrice Elachi, the Member of Parliament for Dagoretti North Constituency in the current 13th Parliament sought a statement from the chairperson, Departmental Committee on Labour regarding sexual harassment of female workers in tea estates in Kericho County which resulted in the inquiry of the Committee on the issue,” she said.
Changes after first woman gets elected to Kenya's Parliament in 1969
The late Grace Onyango became a household name in 1969 when she wrestled down 10 male opponents to become the first woman to clinch a parliamentary seat.
Ms Onyango, a woman of many firsts, was resilient and knew that gender roles would not deter her from clinching the Kisumu Town Parliamentary Seat.
“If I was abused in a rally, I hit back with fury. I was fearless. Men wanted the seat and they used every opportunity to disparage me through male chauvinism. They said it was culturally wrong to elect a woman as MP but I told them off. Voters agreed with me,” Onyango told The Standard in a previous interview.
Despite being the only elected woman in Parliament, Ms Onyango was at the forefront in debating matters, especially those that revolved around women.
To give some examples, on July 3, 1973, Kitui West MP Permenas Munyasia suggested that married women applying for government houses needed to include their husbands’ names to qualify. But Ms Onyango was quick to note that women do not derive status from men.
Yet again, on 19th July 1979, while debating the Marriage Bill, Kitale West MP Wafula Wabuge opined, "If you do not slap your wife, she will not know that you love her." He was opposing Clause 73 which stated that "notwithstanding any customs to the contrary, no spouse shall have any right to inflict corporal punishment on the other." In a rejoinder, Ms Onyango tasked Wabuge to explain whether love was defined by violence, thereby ending the argument.
“I was the minority in Parliament, standing up against 158 male MPs. But I dominated the debates,” she once said in an interview.
Ms Onyango served in her constituency until 1983 when she lost to former Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Ouko.
“As a politician, I wanted to prove to the ‘just government of men' that women can do as well if given the chance...which I think I did,” she was quoted in Phoebe Atieno Musandu’s MA History thesis from Miami State University in 2006 titled Daughter of Odoro.
Opinion polls
An opinion poll conducted by Trends and Insights for Africa (TIFA) in 2022, Kenya’s election year, showed that the society is still not ready for women leaders.
The report pointed out barriers that hold women from winning elective seats.
For example, 50 percent of participants voted lack of encouragement and support from their community as the key reason for not electing women. Lack of financial support and confidence and the burden of domestic responsibilities were also cited.
However, the research also shows that in Kenya, women are considered more effective in representing the needs of the poor as compared to their male counterparts.
"This means that voting women could lead to an increased focus on poverty alleviation and better political leadership values," says the report.
Stephanie Wangari is a multi-skilled journalist who covers current affairs content at the Standard Media Group. She has a knack for human interest and health-related stories.
When she is not working her day job, Stephanie loves creating content on social media platforms, monitoring social media conversations and social listening.
She is also a voice-over artist who has worked with numerous brands.
This story was developed as part of the Baraza-Fringe Data Storytelling Fellowship.
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