By Mary Mwendwa
Nairobi, Kenya: The Ireland Embassy in Kenya recently held a dialogue on how to promote women’s participation in politics. The forum that the Ireland Embassy and UN Women organized was taking part in ‘Lá Fhéile Bríde’/St. Brigid’s Day program which celebrates women’s contribution, creativity, and achievements worldwide.
The chief guest was Ms. Frances Fitzgerald, who is currently serving her second term as a Member of the Gender Equality Advisory Council to the G7 and has had a distinguished career in public life and politics in Ireland, including being a former Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister for Justice, and in Europe.
Delivering her keynote speech, Fitzgerald commended Brigid and how she rediscovered herself. “What I find interesting about Bridget is that we have rediscovered her and this whole point of women being written out of history is really important. Adding that “ one of the things we’re doing in Ireland is we are rewriting women back into history. And I think the discovery if you like of say Brigid there’s always a low-key recognition of her but we’ve now given a public holiday in her honor. We now know more about her.”
Fitzgerald emphasized how women who venture into male territories encounter abuse. “If you venture into traditional male territory the abuse comes. The level of abuse varies from country to country and the level of violence varies but we do know that cyber crime, cyber violence, and harassment online is now a very big feature of political life and very difficult, very tough.”
She further noted that politics is always tough because you’re out there putting yourself up and if you’re defeated you know it can be really humiliating. “It’s tough the public aspect of it but if you’re also dealing with violence against women online or sexual harassment that’s really difficult and what we’re doing in political parties in Europe and what the institutions are doing is they’re getting very good at having codes of conduct that are actually implemented and sanctions.”
Fitzgerald gave an example of how the European Parliament deals with harassment. ”If you’re accused of harassment in the European Parliament you will lose pay, you can lose time in the Parliament and of course the Republic. So we have very good systems now and they are beginning to work but of course, dealing with cyber violence online is a whole other issue, very hard to manage but within our institutions, we really can’t do this and that’s very important.”
Fitzgerald viewed cyber violence as a form of sexism or sexual harassment that was very difficult to control everywhere. “We’ve just brought in a law in Europe.”
Fitzgerald also reflected on her recent journey in Kenya and Tanzania by saying that she had met a very energetic, very motivated group of women in both countries.
“ A big part of our priorities as a government in Ireland in terms of the work we’re doing internationally and doing here in Kenya is about supporting gender equality and improving the participation, empowering the participation of women. So today’s meeting, very much reflects Ireland’s foreign policy and what we want to see. It’s a challenging environment here.”
“Many of the same issues arise but cultural context is always different. I think the levels of intimidation and violence online might be even more pronounced but we do not have, for example, in Ireland or in most European countries, we tend not to have intimidation online, by other politicians, to politicians.”
She also revealed that the male network is very strong here and in other places. And urged the political parties to really have to want gender diversity.
“We need to have male leaders who prioritize gender equality because it’s good for the country. It’s good for the Kenyan GDP. It’s good for the economy generally, if more women are involved in business.”
She emphasized the five C’s that contribute to gender inequalities in different aspects of society, culture, care, cash, confidence, and constraints.
“Cash is a big issue here. The women seem very confident to me, but it’s hard here.”
“And I think culture is also a factor here, probably in some parts of Kenya, more than others, maybe in the more rural areas. And the women themselves, these are things that women themselves identified including culture.”
She praised the EU for being a world leader, in gender equality. “And so what we can learn is that it is impossible, but it is possible to have higher representation, we have 40% of women in the European Parliament 3,940. That’s very important to change the way Europe does business.”
On gender-based Fitzgerald said that we can reduce violence against women and gender-based violence, if we take it seriously as a country, in terms of prevention, in terms of protection of the victims, and then in terms of prosecution of the offenders. “So I think there’s good lessons around all of that.”
She made a call to women, “Keep your voice. Voice is very important.”
Antonia Sodonon UN Women representative to Kenya appreciated how the women’s dialogue came at a critical time in Kenyan politics. “The dialogue today comes at a time when studies show, that women continue to be underrepresented in leadership and decision-making spaces, with the UN Women 2024 Gender Snapshot Report noting that progress towards achieving gender equality continues to lag due to structural issues such as a lack of gender-responsive laws, policies, and budgets, as well as social norms that continue to perpetuate discrimination, preventing women from gaining an equal footing with men.”
She urged the round table meetings must continue to consistently have and sustain the advocacy if progress is to be achieved. “These issues- including the lack of political commitment to gender agenda as demonstrated by the failure to actualize the two-thirds gender principle and absence of a Cabinet Secretary for Gender, the rising cases of femicide, the burden of the unpaid care work, exclusion and marginalization of youth and women – all exacerbated by economic disparities’ that continue to impact on women disproportionately, only confirms what we know too well – that without the power of our collective resolve to sustain advocacy, agency and influence the change we want, we may never achieve our shared goal of rights, justice, and empowerment for women and girls in Kenya.”
Further noting that enhancing women’s political participation and increasing the representation of women in politics remains an urgent need not only in Kenya but globally. “The Inter-Parliamentary Union notes that despite 2024 being a super elections year, this did not translate to significant gains for women, with, women only making up 27% of parliaments worldwide, and a paltry 13 countries being close to 50-50 representation. In Kenya, the 2022 elections demonstrated that only 23.4% of women were elected in the National Assembly. It is important to note Kenya’s next electoral cycle is only two years away and in echoing what has been stated by many of you in different forums and directly to the UN.”
Sodonon continued to say, “This dialogue, therefore, presents a great opportunity for development partners, women leaders, and women rights organizations to jointly reflect on enhancing women’s political participation and begin critical discussions on learnings from the 2022 elections.”
She urged the current leaders to have an honest evaluation of what is working and what we must do differently. This candid evaluation will be key in determining what tools, strategies, and resources are required to guarantee an enabling environment for women’s participation in 2027 and advocate for greater accountability by duty-bearers as we work collectively for inclusive political and electoral processes.
The forum which brought together women’s rights groups, politicians, and other stakeholders, collectively made a call towards eliminating barriers that hinder women from actively participating in politics.
