Kenyans ready for woman president

Liz Muthoni | NATION Ms Angela Ambitho, managing director Infotrak Research and Consulting Ltd when the firm released results of an opinion poll on women and leadership on March 07, 2011.

Liz Muthoni | NATION Ms Angela Ambitho, managing director Infotrak Research and Consulting Ltd when the firm released results of an opinion poll on women and leadership on March 07, 2011.
By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.comPosted Monday, March 7 2011 at 22:00

In Summary

* But many of those polled cannot imagine a female aspirant winning an election to secure tenancy at State House

Kenyans are ready for a female president, according to research firm Infotrack Harris are anything to go by.

The study noted that 60 per cent -- three out of every five Kenyans -- would vote for a woman president if elections were held.

However, only 14 per cent -- about one in 10 Kenyans -- could picture a woman in State House.

“What these numbers are telling us, is that the situation is so because very few women have announced their interest in the presidency,” said Infotrak’s Angela Ambitho said.

Speaking on Monday, on the eve of the centennial International Women’s Day, at the launch of a report about women’s achievement, Ms Ambitho said almost three-quarters of Kenyans feel women have taken an active role in politics.

She credited this to the new Constitution.

According to the poll, most Kenyans feel women will best serve in lesser political offices like that of being a minister, an MP or a councillor or just in the civil service.

Women, she added, also take a backseat when it comes to positions like that of governor or senator, because, the perception is that the positions “need a strong leader”.

She said the definition of “strong” was because Kenya is a patriarchal society where there is a connotation of strength based on masculinity rather than competence.

She said society had relegated women to positions such as “community and church leaders” and unless many of them offered their candidacy for the political offices, that was unlikely to change.

“Many women (aspirants) made the assumption that because they are women, they’d get votes from women, but that was not the case,” Ms Ambitho told journalists at the firm’s office in Nairobi, noting that there were other social factors voters considered in making their choices.

But there’s a ray of hope in the study conducted between February 17 and 18 this year, given that more women -- seven out of every 10 women -- are willing to vote for one of their own for the five-year tenancy at State House.

Even so, only one in two men, who told the researchers that they were ready for a woman president, would vote for a woman if elections were held.

The study comes at a time when only one woman in Kenya, Ms Martha Karua, has declared her intention to vie for the presidency in next year’s elections.

Other women who have vied for the top seat before are Water minister Charity Ngilu and Prof Wangari Maathai in 1997. Ms Nazlin Umar contested in 2007. They all lost.

The firm polled 1,500 respondents in 19 districts. The margin of error is put at plus or minus 2.5 per cent.