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Much has happened in the struggle for women’s empowerment since the first International Women’s Day on March 19, 1911. A lot, including the landmark fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing between September 4 and 15, 1995, which identified poverty as one of the major catalysts of inequalities between women and men.
Over the years, International Women’s Day has evolved from a moment of protest against discrimination into an occasion to celebrate women’s achievements, raise awareness about gender equality, call for positive change, and lobby for accelerated gender parity. Arguably, more women have risen through the social, economic, and political ranks. Kenya boasts a constitutional office of Woman Representative, and the number of women CEOs has increased significantly. Yet, while more women break the glass ceiling, that ceiling remains too high for many. The higher a woman rises on the socio-economic and political ladder, the harder the glass seems to become. The result is that women still remain underrepresented in senior management and leadership.
Although progress has been made in gender equality, much remains undone in terms of gender equity. Equality alone has failed to address historical and structural disadvantages against women in Kenya and beyond. Even where women sit in boardrooms, their influence on major decisions is often barely felt. Attempts to enforce the constitutional one-third gender rule, meant to enhance women’s participation in policy formulation and implementation, continue to face subtle resistance from deeply entrenched elements of toxic masculinity that still control national conversation around gender equality.
It is not suprising therefore, that the World Economic Forum insists that full gender parity between women and men will not be achieved until 2148. In Kenya’s political discourse, some argue that women are their own worst enemies, claiming that with their numbers alone, 24.01 million out of 47 million Kenyans in the last census, they could easily secure equal power and representation. But history (and Herstory too) teaches us that numbers do not automatically translate to power.
Women’s emancipation has never been won through numbers alone, but through determination, organisation, and resolve. From the women of ancient Greece who united to end war, to Russian women who mobilised in 1917 under the banner “Bread and Peace,” women have advanced justice through collective action and moral courage.
Much has been achieved in advancing gender equality, but far more must be done to realise gender equity. What, then, must be done? Many things. But for a start, we must confront the persistent narrative that portrays the rise of women as the fall of men. This misguided belief, that women’s empowerment is a scheme to subjugate men, has been used by some traditionalists to justify discrimination against women.
While there have been extreme cases of radical feminism where women seek to literally ‘sit’ on men, the fight for gender equality has never been about one gender declaring war on the other. This is not a gender war; it is an engendering engagement, not a battle of the sexes, but a battle of biases. In the fight for more space in society, more say in policy formulation and implementation, women in Kenya are not seeking the downfall of men, but a better society for both men and women – a society where, as Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai was wont to say, a person’s potential and value is not determined by the anatomy below the belt.
The writer is the CEO, Kenya Editors Guild
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By Linda Bach