County woman representative (Kenya)

In Kenya a county woman representative is a member of the Kenya National Assembly who represents one of the 47 counties in a seat reserved for female members. The county woman representatives serve in the national assembly alongside the 290 members elected from the constituencies, 12 nominated members and the Speaker of the National Assembly.[1]

The role of woman representative was created by the Constitution of Kenya that was adopted in a referendum in 2010 in order to increase the representation of women in parliament. Prior to the 2010 constitution there were fewer than 20 female members of the Kenyan parliament.[2] The first representatives were elected in the 2013 Kenyan General Election.[3] The woman representatives are elected by all registered voters in the county they represent, not only female voters.[4] In 2019 the Committee on Implementation and Oversight of the Constitution proposed abolishing the role after the next general election.[3]

The Constitution of Kenya requires that no more than two thirds of the National Assembly or the Senate be of the same gender, however this requirement has not been met. In 2017 the High Court ruled that the two houses had failed to perform their constitutional obligation.[5] Despite attempts to introduce new legislation to ensure increased representation of women in parliament this situation has not been resolved.[6]

In addition to the 47 designated woman representatives, at the 2017 Kenyan general election 23 women were elected to represent the constituency seats and 5 women were nominated to represent the appointed seats. Consequently, a total of 75 women serve in the National Assembly in the 12th Parliament of Kenya, comprising 21% of the members of the assembly.[7]

References
  1. "Members of the National Assembly". Parliament of Kenya. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  2. "Kenya's cabinet rejects quota for female MPs". BBC.
  3. "MPs want to get rid of 47 Woman Reps". The Star. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  4. "Establishment of the National Assembly". Kenyan Parliament. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  5. "Kenya Parliament Ordered to enact legislation related to increasing the number of female members". Global Legal Monitor. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  6. "MPs: Kenya must pass women's representation bill or risk constitutional crisis". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  7. Data Report of 2017 Elections (PDF). Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.


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