This month we take a closer look at political parties...

As the recruiting ground for political office, political parties play a crucial role in bringing about the change we need: women & men governing together. In many countries increases in elected women were preceded by changes within political parties.

Analysts cite that the difficulty in bringing about gender balance inside political organisations is one of the main stumbling blocks to raising the number of women nominated and later elected.

How can political parties bring about this change?
First they play an instrumental role in recruiting and training women to take up positions in decision-making. They ultimately aid women in getting elected through selection and promotion of gender balance on electoral tickets.

Secondly, political parties themselves need to be taken into consideration as organisations. To what extent have they succeeded in achieving the democratic representation of the sexes in their own houses? Are the decision-making organs inside political parties, such as the executive council, balanced in terms of gender? To what extent are women’s interests integrated into their policies?

While more and more Kenyan political parties claim affirmative action few reflect this in their nominations and party leadership. Though women are vital in mobilizing support and campaign efforts, they seldom hold top party functions but work behind the scenes. In fact, in Kenya, less than 9% compared to the global 11% of party leaders are female.

As you read through USAWA this month,think about how we can engage political parties in furthering our agenda. We have also brought you the numbers: Kenyan political party officials by gender, Analysis of party commitments on gender issues and the reality on the ground, From the 2002 General elections we bring you political party nominations by gender

It is for you to say! How can we use the numbers to engage political parties and put an end to empty rhetoric?

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