Church Leaders to Push for Gender Justice

Church leaders in the country have renewed their commitment to push for Gender Justice and implementation of the two-thirds gender principle as stipulated in the Constitution of Kenya 2010.

The commitment was made during a consultation held just a few days before the expiry of a deadline by when Parliament was required to enact a law for implementation of the Constitutional provision.

The consultation brought together more than 50 church leaders from the National Council of Churches of Kenya, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops and other churches. The leaders present committed themselves to undertake five actions to promote the implementation of the constitutional requirement that no more than two thirds of any elective or appointive body are to be of the same gender. The commitments are to:

One, reach out to Members of Parliament and the Executive to build political support for the necessary legislative measures.

Two, undertake civic education through churches and other fora to inculcate gender justice in the social psyche.

Three, encourage women to contest for elective and appointive seats and also participate within political parties, while the churches will refrain from stigmatizing Christian women who do so.

Four, mobilize church members to participate in electoral processes and not to discriminate against women candidates.

Five, establish a religious institutions’ technical team to provide support to religious leaders as they engage in the follow up of these recommendations and the ensuing debate.

With specific focus on the implementation of the constitutional gender provision, the forum recommended and committed to push for amendment of the law to peg a proportion of public funding for political parties on the number of women elected on their tickets. In addition, political parties would be required to demonstrate their internal mechanisms for ensuring that at least a third of the nominees in their strongholds are women.

The forum noted that it is essential for all Kenyans to support the gender justice initiative and highlighted four main reasons, which are that

God created men and women equal, as is recorded in Genesis 1: 27 – 28, and so it is un-Christian to hold onto beliefs and practices that promote discrimination on the basis of gender
The Constitution of Kenya 2010 in Article 27 identifies equality and freedom from discrimination as a facet of the Bill of Rights, and in Clause 8 requires that not more than two thirds of members of elective and appointive bodies are of the same gender
Gender Justice would contribute immensely to security and peace at all levels of society, including family, community, political engagement and governance
Gender Justice facilitates economic and social prosperity for both men and women

The forum was convened by the NCCK, who were tasked to coordinate further engagement especially with regard to reaching out to elected political leaders.