A Global Milestone: 69 years of progress and 30 years after Beijing

Women now hold 24.8% of parliamentary seats, 15.4% of gubernatorial seats and 33% of County Assembly positions.

Chief Justice Martha Koome is the first woman to hold the office of the Chief Justice since the establishment of the Kenyan Judiciary, while Dorcas Agik Oduor is Kenya’s first female Attorney General.

In March 2025, the world’s attention once again turns to the powerful voices, achievements and contributions made by women to events in history and society.

Just after International Women’s Day, comes the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) which gathers global leaders, civil society, activists and advocates in the United Nations Headquarters, in New York, to discuss issues affecting women and girls with a focus on advancing gender equality and women empowerment.

The CSW69 which began on March 10 and closes on March 21, is an essential moment for the world to evaluate the state of women's and girl’s rights, and re-affirm commitments made in earlier sessions.

It will also ensure that these commitments continue to translate into effective actions for all women and girls, regardless of status or age.

Impactful side sessions revolve around advancing rights and access, eliminating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), digital inclusion in empowering women, leadership and political participation among other exciting engagements.

Speaking at a side session on Pushing for Progress, Nelly Munyasia, the Executive Director of Reproductive Health Network Kenya (RHNK), a coalition of healthcare providers, expressed her concerns about developing countries not prioritizing domestic funding.

She added that their dependency on international aid for essential services like healthcare, education and infrastructure has great implications for effective service delivery.

“Global funding plays a role in addressing immediate needs, but how sustainable is it?” posed Ms. Munyasia.

“The lives of women and girls continue being compromised because of poor service delivery. The funding cuts directly affect the vulnerable in the community – women and children, because they don’t have the power and resources” she added.

The Health Systems and Policy experts noted that deeply rooted social and cultural norms limit women’s ability to fully participate in meaningful decision-making about their lives, including their health.

“Women are unable to access essential sexual and reproductive services like contraceptives or safe abortion. In most African societies, men still decide when a woman should have sex, whether or not she needs to use contraceptives and how many children she’s supposed to have” she explained.

During the Turning Pushback into Progress session, Munyasia shared how RHNK is driving progress in Kenya by collaborating with the government and engaging unconventional partners to ensure that women and girls make the right decisions about their health.

She emphasized the importance of strategic alliances and bold advocacy in countering resistance to gender equality, and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR).

“I urge the Nordic Council of Ministers for Gender Equality to safeguard the investments they have made back in the Global South, to mainstream gender equity because we cannot afford to lose the progress made, including the provision of comprehensive SRH services and empowerment of adolescent girls and young women” concluded Munyasia.

Coincidentally, this year’s CSW session comes at a time when women are marking the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform Action that was adopted in 1995.

This declaration has shaped the global conversation on gender equality for three decades and counting.

Anne Ambwere was the then Head of the Secretariat at the Women’s Bureau under the Ministry of Culture and Social Services, and she recounts with nostalgia the events of the time.

“Women were not allowed to own property in their names because their financial and economic muscles were entirely dependent on their husbands,” she says.

“This was just one of the collective concerns I was tasked with, as I compiled Kenya’s report that was presented during the 1995 negotiations at the Women’s Conference in Beijing” recalls Ambwere.

The former Gender and Social Services Commissioner in the Ministry of Gender adds that the report also advocated for equal economic empowerment and government representation for women.

“Nairobi forward-looking strategies for the advancement of women (1985) was a document adopted in the conference to provide guidelines for the process of elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and ensure there is improvement of their status in the society in various sectors of development at the regional, national and international levels among member state of the UN,” she explained during an interview with Citizen TV.

According to the former policy maker, 30 years on, Kenya has made good progress in terms of economic empowerment, adding that girls now get equal academic opportunities as boys, and women can buy and own property.

They have access to finances, with the availability of loans and funds for women, while others excel in career fields that were traditionally meant for men.