Twenty one years later after the 3rd United Nations Word Women Conference and Kenyan women are taking stock of the gains made so far and the challenges on their way.

During the recently concluded plus 21 conference, over 1000 women drawn from across the country gathered at the Kenya International Conference Centre, the venue of the 1985 world meet, in a one day workshop organised under the auspices of the National Commission for Gender and Development.

The feeling was great, the company elevated and the vibrations cheerful as the women, both rural and urban- the souls that sustain this country, jammed the Amphitheatre to interrogate their past, review their present state and plan for their future.

This was their day, and they had come out for it. Seated at the podium in company of the president was former Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Chairperson Wilkister Onsando, National Commission for Gender and Development (NCGD) Dr. Jacinta Muteshi and assistant minister Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services Alicen Chelaite, all women of purpose.

The entire decoration of the women rights movement leadership was all there. Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs Martha Karua, Assistant ministers Betty Tett, Beth Mugo, Cecily Mbarire, former cabinet minister Jebii Kilimo, nominated Mp Njoki Ndung’u. Even my good friend Koki Muli and her friend Jane Kiragu were there too!

Although the women appreciated the gains made so far, including a larger political leadership representation than before 1985, they were alive to the fact that much more could be done. Chelaite, making her remarks, noted there were now more women Mps, ministers and assistant ministers, permanent secretaries and heads of state corporations than ever before.

“What we need now is empowerment from the government because we are an active lot. We need to be supported by the government. We need our own fund, like the youth, so that we can help ourselves economically to the same level and footing with our male comrades”, she said.

But if Chelaite was more covert, Federation of Kenyan Women Lawyers chairperson was more bold. Her sweet and womanly voice reverberating across the amphitheatre, Muteshi read to the president the needs of the women amid cheers and applause.

It was her who threw the first salvo on the president by demanding a 50-50 women representation in elective and appointive leadership position, up from the 30 per cent the president had offered for civil service jobs in his Kenyatta day speech.

The Kenyan women, she said, still feel marginalised when it comes to decision making, want stringent laws enacted to guard off physical violation, security increased, equality consciously promoted and the NCGD moved from Justice ministry to the Office of the President.

A young women representative Saida Ali took over from where Mwenesi left demanding an affirmative action within affirmative action and complaining the older women were not giving the younger upcoming women a space and opportunity rise up.

She lashed out at the media and advertisers for repeatedly commercialising the image of the woman and portraying her at most as a mere sexual object and challenged the media to rather than continued in this dehumanizing trend, help re-brand the image of the woman as an harbinger for positive change.

“Women political leaders in this country rarely make the headlines as their male counterparts do and even when they do, they are always negatively presented and skewed”, she complained and I could see from my seat Koki was nodding and smiling in approval.

In the spirit of a rural woman, Wilkister spoke in Swahili and seconded Mwenesi in seeking the 50-50 representation while at the same time lauding the president for the 30 per cent offer. She asked the private sector to follow up president Kibaki’s directive by entrenching affirmative action in their appointment.

But it was Mercy Mwamburi, the Coastal rural women representative who brought the house down with her communique from the rural women which she laced with the antics and body language of the Coastal women.

The rural women are heavily burdened by the HIV/AIDS scourge having been left to take care of infected orphans of their dead sons and daughters with their meagre means and pleaded with the government to consider establishing a special orphans fund to bill them out.

She attributed the lack of more women Mps to loose Electoral Laws which leave the well-endowed men to bribe voters at the expense of less-monied women candidates and pleaded with the government to legislate against this anomaly “otherwise we will never make a big impact in the August House”.

In his response, president Kibaki assured the women that their interests are at the heart of his government but nevertheless challenged them to keep pushing for their rights and not just look up to men to be “generous and donate” to them.

He appreciated women contribution saying they formed the most vibrant block of workers and producers who contribute to the expanding GDP and who have made a big impact especially among the rural communities. Any efforts to uplift the quality of life of women will make a big contribution to the improvement of the welfare of all Kenyans, he said.

“You are more than 50 per cent of the country’s population and if you are not getting your rights, something is wrong. Take corrective measures and demand from those of us in power to take them. We are solidly behind you but you must lead the initiative”, he said.

He cautioned the women against presuming that men are stumbling blocks in their way and said it was only natural for men to be seen to protect what they have. The women would do better, he said, if they used their vast numbers to push their way into position other than expecting the men to give in.

To speak in conference halls, the president said, is not enough and women should take practical steps out there by ensuring their rights are safeguarded in the proposed new constitution and tossing themselves into the fray of elective leadership.

“It is not enough to just speak in one meeting, Oh no! We need to see the action beyond these words. Come out and seek your rights. We are solidly behind you. Do not presume that we (men) are out to block you or that we are hostile to your cause”, he told them.

He cited the establishment of a Ministry responsible for gender mainstreaming, creation of a National Commission on Gender and Development, signing into law the Sexual Offences Bill, establishment of a Task Force on gender based violence, introduction of affirmative action in education and the zero rating of the sanitary wear as some of the goodies his government had given the women so far.