Women and Politics : Political Participation and Representation in Kenya

The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals has probably been the single most important priority on the international development agenda since the year 2000.Goal 3 specifically aims at improving women's political participation.Despite the fact that women make up more than 50 percent of the world's population,women are only represented in 16 percent of parliaments around the world.In Kenya,"positive discrimination" has not necessarily gotten more women into public administration.The main objective of the study is to examine Kenya's achievements in women's political representation.Specifically,the study focuses on the following research questions: what is the achievement of women in politics;what challenges do women face in politics;and what needs to be done to increase women representation in political offices? The study serves as an important tool for any possible intervention aimed at improving citizen's perception on women's political participation. Building on institutional theory,the study explains how institutions and socialization influences representation of women in political offices.The trends in women's political participation, successes, and lessons are presented