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Kenyan politicians must pbad a bill guaranteeing women a third of the seats in parliament – otherwise the country could plunge the country into a constitutional crisis, MPs backing the bill Tuesday warned.
Although Kenya's 2010 constitution states that no more than two-thirds of the elected or appointed bodies may be of the same bad, women occupy 22% of the seats in the country's lower house of parliament and 31% in the upper house.
Since 2012, the courts have ordered Parliament to legislate to enforce the rule of gender equality, but previous attempts have failed. Women parliamentarians have accused lawmakers of deliberately blocking their efforts.
If the parliament is dissolved, general elections will have to be called. Kenya held controversial, extremely polarized and violent elections last year.
Under the increased control of the courts, Kenya's lower house is expected to vote on a bill on Wednesday.
"The truth is that we, as parliament, are unconstitutional," said Rozaah Buyu, representative of the western Kisumu region. "What authority do we have to hold others to account when we do not act under the constitution by not respecting the gender rule?"
The 2017 High Court stated that the chief justice could ask the president to dissolve parliament if a law is not promulgated, said Buyu, vice president of the KenyaWomen Parliamentary Association.
Kenya's economy has grown at an average annual rate of 5% over the past decade, but the benefits are not shared equally. Women and girls remain socially, economically and politically disadvantaged.
Women make up only one-third of the 2.5 million people employed in the formal sector, says Kenya's National Bureau of Statistics. And while women provide 80% of Kenya's farm labor, they own 1% of the agricultural land.
The percentage of women in the Kenyan parliament is lower than that of its neighbors in East Africa, such as Ethiopia, South Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Gender experts say women politicians around the world face a multitude of challenges, ranging from physical and badual violence to lack of money to finance their campaigns. Quotas, they say, help to create more equitable conditions of competition and ensure representation of their voices.
The bill, which was presented to Parliament last week, provides for the creation of special seats if the elections do not reach the required number of votes. Candidates of the underrepresented bad are appointed to fill them.
Supported by President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga, many MPs voiced their support for the bill, citing recent initiatives in Ethiopia where half of the government, the chief of elections, the president of the Supreme Court and the president are women.
But the bill faces strong resistance
Previous attempts to vote on a bill have failed, largely because of quorum issues where MPs are not present, and it is feared that this will happen again.
Human rights experts say critics have also fanned the opposition by using populist comments and sensationalistic badist insults to present the bill as a "women's bill".
The posts, they add, will be entrusted to mistresses of senior politicians or "slay reens" – a term used in slang to describe a beautiful woman only frequenting rich men – rather than on the basis of merit.
One MP suggested that women MPs be subject to an "integrity test" in which their children's DNA test was verified to ensure that they were all same father.
Human rights experts say this has fueled misconceptions about the bill, leading to a debate dominated by badism rather than facts.
"Citizens misunderstand that gender is a woman and the bill aims to favor women in political representation," said Zebib Kavuma, head of the United Nations Women's Organization in Kenya.
"This provision could concern men or women, as in the case of Rwanda where more men are currently appointed to reach the two-thirds threshold." The adoption of the gender rule is important for posterity. Men may need the law in a few years. "
Male opponents also argued that creating additional parliamentary seats would cost Kenyan taxpayers millions of dollars in additional wages, but activists cite studies by the Institute of Economic Affairs that estimate the cost per person at around six shillings ($ 0.06) a year.
"All these elements are only side manifestations of irrational patriarchy," said Marilyn Kamuru, a leading advocate and commentator on women's rights.
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