The crabwise progress of the two-thirds rule

All of a sudden, there is support for the two-thirds gender rule … but why?

Hypothetical story: A wife has been complaining to her husband about a rickety shelf on the wall. She first realised that the shelf was about to fall off the wall when she was dusting the living room, and it had a bit of a slant.

The shelf carries a glass candle holder, a wedding gift from an old friend. There are also several books, some of which have obviously been read several times.

That night, her husband waltzes into the living room from a hard day’s work, and she says, “We need to fix that shelf, it will fall down soon.” He hardly pays attention, reaching for the remote to catch the evening news as he mutters, “I hear you.”

A few days pass. She debates whether to fix the shelf herself. But she is clueless when it comes to the type of nail she’ll need to use.

Frustrated, she shouts, “The shelf needs to be fixed,” and rushes off to work. That evening, as she makes her way home, she is warned to be careful walking around the living room… The glass candle holder fell.

Anyway, she opens the door expecting that the shelf has been fixed, at the expense of a broken wedding gift, but it remains crooked.

Her husband walks in a few hours later, she asks about the shelf, and he retorts, “It’s night, we can’t be banging walls at this time.”

A few more days pass. This time during breakfast, she says, “Enough! Fix this shelf.” So, right after his morning tea, her husband grabs the hammer and fixes it. And she feels a sense of relief.

The man just wanted the nagging to end. The shelf was really not a priority. The woman, however, feared that it was dangerous. After weeks of airing her frustrations, it was finally fixed. Her voice had been heard.

The non-implementation of the two-thirds rule has had women complaining for several years. It has failed to pass, not once but twice.

Now, all of a sudden, we have seen support for the Bill rise. But is this the solution? Being viewed as the gender Bill, the women’s Bill, when really it is for everyone. So that at no one point does a dominant gender fills the halls of power.

Today it is women, who knows, tomorrow it could be men searching for inclusion. But why all of a sudden the support? In the previous story, the husband wanted peace in his household, crooked shelf, missing shelf, made no difference. But the nagging of his wife was becoming unbearable.

Have women’s voices become unbearable? Not really. The push has not really been consistent. But we do know that male politicians don’t really want to do it because it is the “right thing.”

There have been cases of organisations pushing parliament to dissolve because of being unconstitutional. Women members wearing a headscarf to push for the cause.

If there really was a push for representation, the parties that form the government would have already taken steps to push the agenda.

Political parties however tend to limit power to a few people. They are known for selling nominations to the highest bidder. The individual has to belong to the right tribe, family, and class.

Also, when it comes to nomination, there are bound to be women who are individuals wives, girlfriends, nieces and daughters.

Nevertheless, the standards to which women in political leadership are held are much higher than those for men.

As few as they are as compared with other countries in the region, they are also more qualified. Six out of 21 of our Cabinet secretaries are women, and the majority hold PhDs while, as for some of their male counterparts, we are not even sure if they went to a university.

We do not necessarily look for certain qualifications in male politicians, but brutally scrutinise women. Focusing on merit is not the main issue, because who is in charge of nominations? Back to men. And hence the support for the Duale Bill.

Nerima Wako-Ojiwa is executive director of Siasa Place. Twitter: @Nerima