Kenya ranked top in gender reforms

By Peter Leftie
Kenya has been voted the best country in the world for passing laws that enable women to conduct business during the last two years.

A new World Bank and International Finance Corporation report rates Kenya highly in a global survey of what governments are doing to remove barriers that stop women from conducting business.

“This year, Kenya was the economy with the highest number of reforms in the areas covered in Women, Business and the Law,” the report states.

The report commends Kenya for passing laws that enable women access financial institutions, matrimonial and family property more easily. “Many of the documented changes came about through the new Constitution.

“This legal reform eliminated gender differentiation under the law relating to a woman’s ability to pass her nationality to her child or spouse, entitles every Kenyan to a passport and all registration or identity documents issued to citizens, and guarantees freedom of movement into, out of and within Kenya for all citizens,” the report notes.

Customary law
It observes that Kenya had also managed to make customary law subordinate to the Constitution.
“In fact, customary law is now void if it is inconsistent with the Constitution.

“Moreover, the same Constitution grants women equal rights before, during and after marriage. It also grants women equality of inheritance rights for the first time,” it says.

The document notes that only 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, led by Kenya, have eliminated laws that discriminate against women in the acquisition of property or basic legal transactions such as signing contracts or even getting a passport.

Other countries that have eliminated such discriminative laws against women are Angola, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

However, the report faults Zambia for retaining customary laws or personal laws that discriminate against women.

It also gives the example of the Democratic Republic of Congo where married women need the consent of their husbands to lodge any case in court.

The report states that only Kenya had made legal changes that affect the use of property.

Kilde: Daily Nation

Photo/ FILE Women MPs consult at the Kenya Institute of Administration on March 20, 2010 as lawmakers sought consensus on the draft Constitution.