Gov’t urged to include gender data in policy making

The National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) together with various civil societies are calling upon the government to include gender data effectively in policy making.

Speaking during a workshop for Gender Data Use in Policymaking at the Fairview Hotel, NGEC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Paul Kuria stated that people should be put at the centre of the conversation since policies are created to serve them.

Mr. Kuria added that the importance of the gender agenda is to effectively plan and budget for gender issues.

“Studies are made about roads and highways, what about the effectiveness of the roads? Can people with disabilities effectively alight on the roads and move from one point to another?" He posed.

“There is a solar sun garden hectare in Garissa County, but is the Garissa woman benefitting from it? They sit under them to shield themselves from the hot sun as their children do homework, it just helps the national grid."

The NGEC boss went ahead to note that despite gender inclusion being integral in making policies, it is often met with many hurdles.

Some of these include lack of proper backing from the relevant channels, lack of effective leaders who will champion the cause, lack of adequate allocation of funds in the budget, and lack of effective awareness of gender and its importance in creating policies.

Various Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) who attended the workshop gave recommendations for solutions that can be implemented.

These include; effective training of gender at the county level, backing from various political leaders, collaborations of CSOs and KNBS for correct data collection, as well as effective allocation of funds in the budget.

“Where data is missing, women and children are invisible,” stated a representative of United Nations (UN) Women.

Further, conversations revolved around the need for proper understanding and dissemination of gender data collection.

“Simplify gender reports in a manner that is gender specific, in a way that the grass roots people can understand. People from the county government may want to use it for public participation yet it is in thousands of pages,” stated Chryspin Afifu from the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW).

“There is work to be done to create an enabling environment for gender data use in policy making in Kenya. There needs to be the capacity, the resources, and the relationships in order for gender data to be used meaningfully," stated Sophie Kenneally, PARIS21

She added: "On capacity, data literacy and gender awareness need to be built across sectors and, critically, at county level. There is still an understanding that ‘gender’ is about women, but it’s not, it’s about the whole population, appreciating and responding sensitively to their distinct needs.”

The workshop was a partnership between the KNBS and PARIS 21 and was also attended by former Makueni Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau as well as Kisii Woman Representative Donya Dorice Aburi.