Creaw Portal

A regional organization has described Kenya as "making progress" in advancing wom­en's issues.

But the women's rights group said that although Kenya had made headway in handling economic, political, health and education matters it was still lagging behind its East African counterparts.

The Eastern African Sub­regional Support Initiative for Advancement of Women (Essi) is developing a legal regional instrument that will incorpo­rate commitments and treaties signed by the five countries in the region.

"The campaign is a collec­tive action," said Essi execu­tive director Marren Akatsa ­Bukachi.

Put pressure

She said with each country at a different level of progress, the document would put pres­sure on leaders of those that are slow.

"We will be using peer pres­sure from the other countries", she said.The document, which will be in place by 2010, seeks to legally bind the countries to protocols and charter declara­tions on women's rights.

In a study carried out by Essi, the Kenyan Government's biggest leap was the initiation of financial packages such as the Women Enterprise Fund, which offers savings and credit facilities to women and women's organisations. This was in order to fight poverty, said to be prevalent among women. Forty-six per cent of women in urban areas live below the poverty line compared to 30 per cent of men.

Promotion of girl child edu­cation through bursaries and reduced entry marks at insti­tutions, they said, has helped address gender disparities in schools.

Mosquito nets

In the health sector, the Gov­ernment was praised for its ability to reduce the number of deaths caused by malaria through its prevention strate­gy in which mosquito nets are given free of charge to preg­nant women.

Highly criticized was Ken­ya's political scene.

"Kenya is the only country which does not have affirma­tive action," said Ms Bukachi.According to their survey, Kenya ranked lowest among the five countries, with only 10 per cent female representation in the top leadership. Rwanda is in the lead with 50 per cent representation.The biggest leap was initiation of financial packages such as the Women Enterprise Fund