Why won’t women participate? Making sense of the functional inconsistency of gender equality legislation in Kenya

Abstract

Devolution is one of the key features of Kenya’s 2010 constitution. Through budget and economic fora in the 47 counties, a platform for increased citizen engagement in governance processes is provided. There are also specific provisions in favour of women, to aid in the reversal of their historical exclusion from political affairs and strengthen their political agency. Using the case of the Maasai community, this paper investigates both descriptive and substantive representation of women in patriarchal set-ups. It demonstrates that these provisions notwithstanding, women still have a hard time getting their voices heard in the public space, as politics of engagement hinge on patriarchal considerations that far outweigh formal rules in a political system that is an embodiment of the dialectical relationship between primordial and civic publics. Backed by empirical data from biographical narratives and focus group discussions therefore, the paper illustrates that in patriarchal set-ups, empowerment via civic engagement can only be realised through tactful navigation of the primordial public and the institutions within it, since political agency in such set-ups is a product of power relationships in and between the domestic and public spaces.
Key Words: Norms, institutions, agency, gender equality.