Africa-Press – Kenya. During the 2022 general elections, only 145 women leaders were elected into various seats. This is according to a report done by Echo Network Africa in partnership with UN Women Kenya.
The report, A gender audit and analysis of the 2022 general elections, was launched on Monday. It said 16,100 candidates ran for various seats during the August 9 polls.
“The number constituted a mere 1962 women candidates, 12.2 per cent of the total,” the report read. The rest, 14,138, were male candidates.
Subsequently, the report added, only 145 (7.9 per cent) women were elected out of 1836 elective seats. “The rest of the 1691 elective seats are all currently occupied by the male gender,” the report read.
It said that the number of young women and women with disabilities is even lower. Baraza Nyukuri, who presented the findings of the report, said that for the large part, women remain outliers in the largely patriarchal Kenyan society.
“However, every general election, the number of women vying for elective seats has been on the rise,” he said. In 2017, he said, only 1300 women candidates contested various seats. He said that the more women contest elective seats, the more they are elected.
“We recommend that political education and training of women by state and non-state actors start early to ensure the number of women candidates increases to match the males,” he said. That way, he concluded, it could increase the chances of more women winning elective seats.
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