Opportunities galore for women since passing of new Constitution
Women attend a leadership training in Eldoret town last week. One challenge that Kenyan women face is cultural prejudice when it comes to wealth distribution. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA
This year Hillary Clinton may become the first female president of the United States. A number of world leaders are women, for example British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In Africa, Ellen Sirleaf of Liberia is President. It seems that global leadership is slowly changing and becoming more accommodative of women leaders.
Leadership is not just about world politics, it includes many different spheres such as business and religion. A recent Fortune 500 edition listed 24 women as CEOs of leading American companies.
This is evidence of an emerging global trend where more women are taking on leadership roles.
It has been argued that women have soft skills including the ability to nurture, intuition and communication.
In fact some experts argue that leadership style is highly dependent on gender. According to these experts, men and women have different styles of leadership.
There is a shift in global leadership to accommodate women and therefore it is advisable that they position themselves for the role. In Kenya there have been a number of legislative changes that create room for women to participate in leadership.
The first major change came in 2010 with the new Constitution. To understand the new opportunities for women in leadership, it is important to know laws that empower them.
The Constitution provides the “gender rule”, whereby not more than two thirds of elective posts should be held by the same gender. This means that at least 33 per cent of seats should be held by either gender. Unfortunately Parliament rejected a Bill to effect this constitutional provision.
This is unfortunate. However, women should know that the constitutional provision is in existence which should encourage more of them to participate in next year’s elections.
Upheld and enforced
There are a number of government policies that seek to uphold women’s rights. There is a government body which deals with policy issues on women’s rights.
I trust that if these policies are upheld and enforced there will be better opportunities for women to participate in leadership.
There are a number of organisations that support women for equal opportunities in business. One is the Women Enterprise Fund which finances women owned enterprises.
One challenge that Kenyan women face is cultural prejudice when it comes to wealth distribution.
Family wealth and inheritance have in the past been owned by men as most cultures do not recognise women as potential heirs. This cultural hindrance meant that women often lacked collateral with which to secure financing.
But organisations like the Women Enterprise Fund have made it possible for women to access money.
Procurement laws provide that at least 30 per cent of public tenders be awarded to specialised groups including women, youth and the disabled. A lot of women have benefited from this change in law to enable them access tenders in the public sector.
I encourage more women to run for elective positions next year and access funds from the women’s kitty for startups as well as access public sector tenders.
