Zipporah Imali Wanaswa

Influence of Women's Political Participation on Governance: Can Women's Increased Political Participation Contribute to Achievement of Gender Justice? Zipporah Imali Wanaswa

In Africa, Burundi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda have achieved the critical 33% representation of women in political decision making organs such as political parties, parliamentary committees and local decision making forums. Women in Africa have proved to be instrumental in promoting political civic education, increased political party membership and mobilization of resources for political campaigns; yet in Kenya, their political participation remains low at 17.3%. Gender imbalances in access to leadership opportunities, participation in resource allocation and decision making limits sharing of development outcomes between girls/women and boys/men; this manifesting itself in lack of accessibility to birth and citizenship registration, low levels of education among women and girls, low household income and high population of poor women and girls. Effective governance entails promotion of institutional frameworks that facilitate efficient governance and accountability. It identifies the rights of people to determine their choices and influence the direction of change through their ability to control resources, achieve and benefit equally from the desired outcomes.