Source: allAfrica.com
Recently, my young niece came home from school crying. We sought to know what had happened to the usually upbeat Standard Two girl. "They didn't vote for me!" she sobbed.
In her school, pupils vote for class prefects. My niece had wanted to be prefect. "I have to win this election", she would tell her brother every day. So when her classmates elected another pupil, a boy, she was heart-broken.
You see, my niece believed that she deserved the position because she is a girl. In her little world, she was grappling with an issue which is at the centre of national debate: women's representation.
This debate is even more alive after the enactment of the Constitution, which contains provisions for affirmative action.
The Constitution provides that the Senate shall consist of 47 women, each elected by the registered voters of the counties, each county constituting a single member constituency.
It will also consist of 16 women members nominated by political parties. Women shall also get at least one third representation in leadership positions.
But why do we have few women leaders in society? Liberia's President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, is the only female president in Africa. Here in Kenya, whether we can vote for a woman president is yet to be proven.
Traditional African culture emphasised that men were leaders and women were to be led. Children grew up believing that men were better leaders than women.
But now, the Constitution has opened our eyes -- women can lead too. Or rather, several positions should be reserved for them. Is their qualification a point to consider?
Is the Supreme Law handing out positions to women on a silver platter? We recently debated these questions in college, and the male commentators said yes. "We should all have equal rights", I remember one of them shouting.
A few months ago, the Federation of Women Lawyers -Kenya (Fida-K) filed a petition in court seeking additional women judges in the Supreme Court. The court did not rule in their favour.
But in my opinion, what if the Judicial Service Commission received only a handful of qualified women among a majority of qualified men?
To fully benefit from the progressive provisions of this Constitution, we, women, must be competitive. We must go for higher academic qualifications. We must excel in our professional roles.
In this era of public scrutiny, vetting and high integrity requirements, we must strive to live for the ideals enshrined in Chapter Six of the Constitution.
Then, when vacancies open in political offices or others, we must present ourselves assertively as serious candidates.
We should never lay claim to leadership positions simply because we are women. That way, my little niece and her generation will grow up knowing that women can achieve the highest qualifications possible, accomplish professional feats and wrestle with men for leadership.
Only then will she, in a future Kenya, not cry that she has not been elected, but rejoice that she has competed among the best men and women, and won.