Abstract:
Although the Kenyan Constitution 2010 created opportunities for more women to
participate in competitive politics, such participation in Wajir County continues to be low
and confined to the Women Representative seat. Generally, women‘s participation in
politics remains a challenge in Kenya, as in many other parts of the world. This is despite
many strategies formulated, time and gain, in country, and abroad, to increase the
numbers of women in political leadership. This study investigates the factors that
contribute to these remarkably low levels of women leadership in politics in areas such as
Wajir by specifically focusing on communication. It seeks to understand this through
interrogation of interpersonal communication and, intra-cultural communication
dynamics in order to unearth communication-based factors affecting women in the
political arena. I further address how these factors influence the shaping of gendered
spaces for women in terms of political engagement and leadership. This qualitative study
adopts an interpretivist-constructivist paradigm and analyses data of interviews from a
sample size of 27 participants, composed of politicians, campaign members, religious
leaders and the councils of elders. Interview recordings were transcribed, and data
analysed thematically. Study findings suggest that cultural and religious beliefs influence
the way communications is carried out and the places in which it can take place. Public
forums were often restricted for women making it difficult for them to express their
political agenda. The non-viability of female leadership was propagated through religious
discourse that presented teachings and practices that discourage free association of
women with men and participation on public issues. In addition, results show that the use
of folklore, proverbs, parables, and poems stereotype women negatively thus
undermining their leadership in the political space. More importantly, the study
highlights women politician‘s unfamiliarity with the culturally known and acceptable
political language used by men. Nevertheless, the study found that women politicians
tried to mitigate the situation by adopting a culturally appropriate, four-step
communication strategy to overcome the challenges they faced. Based on these findings,
it can be argued that although the Constitution of Kenya 2010 entitles women to compete
on a level playing field for elective positions, these legal liberties are not sufficient to
overcome the discriminative, rigid and gender-biased community governance structure,
the cultural norms, and religious restrictions that run counter to these provisions. This is
manifested through various communication barriers and restrictions that women political
candidates face, as seen in this study‘s findings. I therefore recommend that affirmative
action initiatives in rural communities, such as in Wajir county, should focus on
mitigating the cultural and religious norms, beliefs and practices that are a hurdle to
women‘s leadership, and, which mute the voices of women in politics. Further, opinion
leaders such as community and religious heads should be sensitised on the need to
support women political candidates vying for various seats and be involved in
spearheading civic education aimed at empowering women to effectively participate in
competitive politics. There is also need for capacity building for women political
aspirants especially on the use of culturally acceptable political language.