Going beyond Numbers: the Need for a Paradigm Shift in Understanding Women’s Political Participation in Kenya

Abstract

Women continue to lag behind in many countries in the South in terms of political representation and efforts to understand this have mainly focused on the form of democracy such as numerical aspects of women’s participation in the political process. Numerical aspects of women’s representation though undoubtedly important in understanding women’s political participation does not seem to adequately address women’s lack of participation in politics. It is in view of this that I argue that there is need for a paradigm shift to give more attention to the substance of democracy i.e. the discursive aspect in the study of women’s political participation in Kenya. Drawing on findings from research on the representation of women’s issues in Kenya carried out in Makueni District, the argument in paper is that since language plays a critical role in the construction of reality, a study of language is critical to understanding women’s political participation. The study draws on an eclectic model that cuts across language, gender and politics. The findings of the study indicate that at the level of representation, women, politicians and other community leaders use deficit discourses to talk about women’s issues. They all draw on the prevailing discourses about women. This language reflects and reproduces the exclusion of women in the political process because it is hard for women to believe that they have a contribution to make when they are interpellated by these deficit discourses; it might explain the relatively low voices of women in the democratization process in Kenya. A dual focus on the form and substance of democracy illuminates the importance of participation in democracy as a means to social justice.

Key words: Women’s agency, Deficit discourses, Participation, Democracy, Social justice.