Determinants of Women Leadership Inclusion in Political Elective Positions in Kenya

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 and Non-Discrimination Policies to promote inclusion of women and disadvantaged groups in electoral and political processes. It is against this background that this study sought to analyze the determinant of women leadership inclusion in political elective positions in Kenya.. The study specifically focused on political decentralization, capacity building, financial resources, culture and gender-based policies roles in political elective positions in Kenya. A survey design was adopted with a positivism philosophy approach and simple random sampling method was applied to select a representative sample. The study target population comprised of 172 women elected in National Assembly, Senate, Governors and 47 county assemblies. Primary data was collected through structured questionnaires and was entered and analyzed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 for windows. Both descriptive (frequency, means and standard deviation) and inferential (correlation and regression) statistics. The findings shows that political decentralization demonstrated a minimal positive association (r=0.278, R²=0.077) towards women's inclusion showing limited positive effects through better practice implementations. Weak evidence exists between capacity building activities involving training and mentorship programs which has a positive association (r=0.323, R²=0.105) with improving women leadership inclusion. The study findings indicated that financial resources were essential to women's leadership development because a significant 90.4% of participants agreed on their importance which resulted in an R² value of 0.102. Stereotypes and patriarchy in the culture yielded a negative impact on women's leadership. Women remain marginalized despite political decentralization acting as a democratizing force because parties fail to fully implement decentralization. Capacity building proves essential for women because it provides them with education and mentoring and experience which enables them to successfully move from appointive into elective positions. Financial resources function as a significant problem for women. The cultural presence of patriarchy and negative gender stereotypes makes it difficult for women to gain leadership positions. The study recommends enhancing women’s political leadership in Kenya through: empowering women in party structures, enforcing gender laws, providing training and mentorship, waiving nomination fees, supporting resource mobilization, and countering negative cultural norms via education and role models.