Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

The majority of Kenya’s population is female, however only 18 of 210 seats in parliament are occupied by women. Female aspirants have several barriers to cross: most of them lack the financial resources for an electoral campaign and the power structures within their parties – and the society as a whole – favour men rather than women. Also, the security issue is not to be ignored in this election time, which is marked by violent outbursts, sometimes specifically against female candidates.

To counter this unbalanced situation the Kenyan Centre for Multiparty Democracy is actively involved in promoting women candidates for the next elections.
 
 
Affirmative action
 
In monthly fora CMD-Kenya invites women from different parts of the country and across the political divide to share experiences, develop winning campaign strategies and receive training. CMD-Kenya is also supporting a group of 30 female candidates – from different denominations – by increasing their visibility in the media. In addition four documentaries on women presidential candidates have been produced and one being broadcasted on national TV.

The organisation was one of the first to add its voice of support to an affirmative action bill to create 50 additional seats for women.

“Feminization of the Kenyan parliament is not only good for the women, but also for the country which desperately needs to be injected by the freshness from women,” says Executive Director Ms Njeri Kabeberi.

The bill was however defeated in August when parliamentarians couldn't muster the required two-thirds majority to pass it. But in the Political Parties Bill which recently got adopted, new gender criteria such as the reservation of one third of the leadership positions to women, are included.

In the run-up to the elections CMD-Kenya will continue its endeavor to engender Kenyan politics through supporting credible, capable and qualified women to contest with their male counterparts in a bid to increase the number of women in the next parliament.