Women’s presence in decision-making positions and Advisory Boards is in very low numbers. The reasons often cited for this situation include the exclusion of women from the “old boys’ club” and lack of time to network and make informal contact. It is also claimed that women are not interested in leadership positions, lack self-confidence, are not ambitious, and concentrate more on concrete work.1

 

The Women’s Property and Inheritance Rights (WP&IR) project was designed on the premise that women are traditionally disadvantaged in relation to information, protection and demand for their property and inheritance rights. This project therefore focused on education and awareness creation at the community level with the objective of changing attitudes of the Kenyan people to respect women’s property and inheritance rights.

 

The rationale of the project is that the chiefs and the assistant chiefs [who are all hereinafter referred to as chiefs] represent the first level of government administrative structure at the community level. The chiefs handle cases on women’s property and inheritance rights almost on a daily basis. However, they lack adequate training on how to handle such cases. Education Centre for Women in Democracy (ECWD) therefore decided to build the capacity of selected chiefs and paralegals in six districts, namely, Baringo, Buret, Kajiado, Koibatek, Nandi South and West Pokot, to carry out education and awareness creation activities, handle cases and assist women to seek justice on their property and inheritance rights violations.

Women are present in decision-making positions and advisory boards in very low numbers. The reasons often cited for this situation include on the one hand, the exclusion of women from the “old boys’ club”, and lack of time to network and make informal contact. On the other hand, it is claimed that women are not interested in leadership positions, lack self-confidence, are not ambitious, and concentrate more on concrete work.

“Equality in political decision making performs a leverage function without which it is highly unlikely that a real integration of the equality dimension in government policy making is feasible…women’s equal participation in political life plays a pivotal role in the general process of the advancement of women. Women’s equal participation in decision – making is not only a demand for justice or democracy but can be seen as a necessary condition for women’s interests to be taken into account”