Factors Impeding Women Participation in Elective Political Leadership Positions in Seme Constituency, Kisumu County, Kenya

Abstract

Kenya's development record and its demographic composition suggest a need for active involvement of women in key decision-making bodies. According to Engendering the Political Process Program (EPPP), the recent survey in Kenya has revealed that women constitute majority of voters. However, their level of participation in electoral politics stands at 15% in Kenya. Kenyan women do not fully participate on elective leadership positions, despite the new constitution providing a fairer playing ground for women candidates. In Seme Constituency, no female has been elected to parliament and even vie for the same position since 1992. This is a contrasting situation to other Constituencies such as Kitui South, Othaya and Nyeri Town constituencies. Therefore, it is important to assess the factors that could be impeding women participation in politics in Seme. The Main objective of the study is to establish factors determining women participation in elective leadership positions within Seme Constituency. The specific objectives include; examining the cultural issues impeding women from participating in political dispensation, to examine the socio-economic challenges of women participation in elective leadership position in Seme Constituency and to establish institutional factors that influence women's access and full participation in political power structures and decisionmaking. This study is based on Ruth Pearson's gender relations theory (1995). Ruth argues in her theory that the society views all activities that are carried out to be based on social roles and interactions of men and women. Pearson's gender relations theory is appropriate for this study because it emphasizes the various social, cultural and economic norms and standards which must be considered for women to take the opportunities to participate in social activities such as politics. This study is significant for the reason that the data will be resourceful to scholars and policy makers as well as contribute to the inadequate literature on gender participation in electoral politics in Africa in general and Kenya in particular. The study adopted cross-sectional descriptive study design. The study population was 98,805. The study used cluster and simple random sampling to sample 384 voters and purposive sampling to sample key informants. The study used informant schedule, Observation List, Focused Group Discussions guides and structured Questionnaires to collect data. Qualitative data were summarized in themes and sub themes. Quantitative data are analyzed using SPSS version 22 and statistics results presented on tables, pie charts and scatter diagrams. The findings showed that 68% of the respondents accepted that cultural structures and processes reinforce the subordinate positions of women in political dispensation. People still had the notion that women's role is to bear children and take care of the family in the society as depicted in the study findings. The chi- square test shows that there was a statistically significant association: X2 (6) = 34.6, p < .001 between cultural issues and women participation political leadership positions. In addition, it was found that more than three-quarter of the respondents, 79% accepted that the community valued men who were educated more than women in leadership positions. The Pearson chi-square test analysis for the socio-economic factors was computed, (X2 (8) = 21.14, p < .001) indicated that there was a statistically significant association between socio-economic factors and women participation on elective political leadership factors in Seme constituency. The study concluded that most women do not actively participate in women participation in elective political leadership. The Media should continue to sensitize the general public in the area of gender equity so as to avoid sociocultural traditions that have negative effects on women participation in political dispension in the constituency.