By Grace Gilo
While speaking during the women governors’ caucus G7 strategy today, President Ruto acknowledged that women stood by him more than men during his political turbulence as a deputy president.
“Women are more reliable. When I ran into political turbulence as the deputy president, more women stood by me than men in my team and that is a fact in the last election for some reason more women voted for me than men and therefore supporting women is the easiest thing for me of course apart from the fact that in my family I have more women family members than men,” he said.
According to the last 2019 census, Kenya as a country has a total population of 24,014,716 women and 23,548,056 men therefore means that there are more women than men in Kenya. In terms of votes, this automation makes women carriers of more votes than men and hence means that a candidate with a lot of women support is more likely to win.
Women empowerment has recently been on the rise and women are now ready to explore fields that have been previously male-dominated such as politics.
The Women Governors Caucus G7 strategy is a strategy that aims to expand women’s leadership in devolved units. Several women in leadership positions attended the ceremony, including the 7 sitting governors; Council of Governors Chair and governor Kirinyaga County Anne Waiguru, Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti, Homabay Governor Gladys Wanga, Nakuru governor, Susan Kihika, Cecily Mbarire, Embu County, Wavinya Ndeti Machakos County, and Fatuma Achani Kwale County.
These remarks from the president bring out how his government is willing to support women in politics especially after he mentioned that he had instructed Kimani Ichung’wah, the leader of the majority in parliament, and the Parliamentary Group (PG) of the Kenya Kwanza team to actively advocate for the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule, to achieve progress by the upcoming year.