TY - JOUR
T1 - Women in politics in Kenya
T2 - An analysis of participation and barriers
AU - Anyango, Beatrice Orwako
AU - Alupo, Beatrice Atim
AU - Opoku, Maxwell Peprah
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Hipatia Editorial. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/2
Y1 - 2018/2
N2 - Women constitute more than half of the world’s population but their representation in the political arena has consistently been lower compared to men. Since representation is important in the allocation of resources, laws have been passed to guarantee gender parity in decision-making. In Kenya, the 2010 Constitution introduced a two-third gender rule to enhance parity in legislative bodies at both lower and national legislative bodies. From a sociological perspective, this paper assessed the extent of participation of women in the political development of Kenya. The qualitative study used interviews to analyse the contribution of women in politics. In all, 30 key informants, made up of 11 males and 19 females, were purposively recruited for the study. The study found that there were hindrances to women’s effective political participation which included; political environment characterized by violence, discrimination based on gender and lack of support from fellow women. The study and its implication for policymaking has been discussed extensively.
AB - Women constitute more than half of the world’s population but their representation in the political arena has consistently been lower compared to men. Since representation is important in the allocation of resources, laws have been passed to guarantee gender parity in decision-making. In Kenya, the 2010 Constitution introduced a two-third gender rule to enhance parity in legislative bodies at both lower and national legislative bodies. From a sociological perspective, this paper assessed the extent of participation of women in the political development of Kenya. The qualitative study used interviews to analyse the contribution of women in politics. In all, 30 key informants, made up of 11 males and 19 females, were purposively recruited for the study. The study found that there were hindrances to women’s effective political participation which included; political environment characterized by violence, discrimination based on gender and lack of support from fellow women. The study and its implication for policymaking has been discussed extensively.
KW - Culture
KW - Kenya
KW - Legislations
KW - Political participation
KW - Women
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U2 - 10.17583/generos.2018.3179
DO - 10.17583/generos.2018.3179
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85062915120
SN - 2014-3613
VL - 7
SP - 1506
EP - 1530
JO - Generos
JF - Generos
IS - 1
ER -