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Women have the numbers, still lag behind in leadership

Tuesday, November 5th, 2019 05:11 | By
Council of Governors chair Wycliffe Oparanya. Photo/PD/FILE

There are more women than men in Kenya, the latest Kenya Population and Housing Census (KPHC) results show.

According to the data released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) there are 466,660 more women than men. 

“The total enumerated population was 47, 564, and 296 out of which 23,548,056 were males and 24,014,716 were females and 1524 were intersex,” read the report.

Females, according to the results, account for 50.5 per cent of the total population as compared to men, who account for 49.5 per cent.

While releasing the results yesterday KNBS Director General Zachary Mwangi said the data collected has undergone validation checks as guided by the United National (UN) fundamental principles of official statistics and the UN handbook on editing census.

Reject bill

In the 2009 Census released by the then planning Minister Wycliffe Oparanya, out of the 38 million Kenyans the gender population indicated that women (19,417,639) were slightly more than men (19,192,458) by 225,181.

However, despite the women’s higher number, the two-thirds gender rule is yet to be achieved in Parliament, county assemblies and the Executive. Recently the National Assembly rejected the two-thirds gender bill for the fourth time, claiming it will not give women free seats.

Today women hold 172 of the 1,883 elected seats in Kenya, up from 145 after the 2013 elections. 

Women representation in both the National Assembly and Senate stands at 86 (21 per cent), out of which 47 are women representatives, 16 and five are elected and nominated MPs , respectively.

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