Role of Political Decentralization on Women Leadership in Kenya Political Elective Positions

Abstract

There is low inclusion of women in political elective position in Kenya. If this trend continues, women will be excluded in decision making in matters of development leading exclusivity of women which goes against the UN Sustainable Goal 5 on Gender mainstream and Non-Discrimination Policies to promote inclusion of women and disadvantaged groups in electoral and political processes as envisioned in Kenya vision 2030. It is against this that this study sought to determine the role of political decentralization on women leadership in Kenya political elective positions. A descriptive research design was adopted with a positivism philosophy approach, A simple random sampling method was applied to select a representative sample of the study. The study target population comprised of 172 women elected in National Assembly and Senate.  Primary data was collected through closed-ended questionnaires and secondary data was collected through published records; Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 for windows were used to facilitate data analysis process. The study findings indicate that political decentralization had a positive and significant relationship between political decentralization and women leadership in Kenya political elective positions. This study concluded that political decentralization which is a process of transferring political power and authority from central government to sub-national level of government. Political decentralization tends to support democratization by providing more opportunity for citizens and their elected representation to affect the creation and implementation of policies. However, lack of fully implementation of political decentralization among the parties’ structures, legislative powers and biased political competition have contributed to marginalization of women from political positions. The study recommends that political parties in Kenya should ensure that women are allowed more power in public decision-making in political parties’ structures; should support democratization by giving women aspirants more influence in the formulation and implementation of policies. The study further recommends that political parties should lobby for all the legislation on gender representation in politics in Kenya to be operationalized.

Key Words: Political Decentralization, Women Leadership, Elective Positions, Kenya