Gender Mainstreaming Strategies and Women Political Participation in Kibwezi East Constituency of Makueni County in Kenya

Abstract

Background to the Study Internationally the participation of women in political leadership is constantly becoming smaller according to Women Watch, (2015) with the current Global average of female parliamentarians being 19.5%. This falls below the 30% 1995 Beijing global target which was to be attained by the year 2005. Presently, women's representation in legislatures around the world is (21.9%) according to Dudman, (2014) with only twelve countries where women hold 33% or more seats in the parliaments (Lijphart, 2012). Despite comprising of over half of the world's population, women continue to be less represented as voters, political leaders and elected officials (House, 2014). As of January 2019, 11women are serving as Head of States and 10 are serving as Head of Governments (UN Women 2019).