Female perceptions of women in politics in Kenya

Abstract

In Kenya, women are significantly underrepresented in elected political leadership, with the women representation in elected bodies of government still below the 30 per cent threshold. This qualitative study evaluates females’ perceptions of women in Kenyan politics. The study concerns issues on voting, perception of female leadership and challenges to women’s political participation. It highlights the challenges women face as politicians and voters. It explores how women are bound by patriarchal structures and power imbalances within political parties and society. It also explores how some of the Kenyan cultures have perpetuated violence towards women and continue to impede the realization of gender equality. Although politics has been male dominated, what emerges from the findings of this study is that women wish to vote for women, but many female voters do not vote due to the challenges of exercise their democratic right. Women understand that women need empowerment both within the political field and within the family and society at large. They see a need for politics to include women to fight for women’s issues and an equal society. Women see women as capable and strong candidates in their own rights. The study employs the viewpoints of feminist and African feminist theory, and more narrowly empowerment theory. This theoretical framework gives the opportunity for marginalized voices to tell their own stories in their own words. The target group of this study was women, and through their voices analyse and conceptualize female experiences of political participation in Kenya.