Abstract:
The Constitution of Kenya 2010, offers young women key entry points for engagement
in political processes through elective and appointive positions in national, county
governments and social organizations under the two thirds gender rule. In Nyamira
County
, various civil society organizations have been vocal through advocacy and
training of young women for political participation. The principals of cooperative
advocate for democracy and one man one vote women in the tea sector face myriad of
challenges in
vying for leadership position in the tea Sacco’s thus leading to gender
inequality in the management and supervisory committees. The study therefore, sought
to investigate socio
-
economic factors affecting the young women participation in tea
Sacco’s politi
cs.
The study was informed by t
he radical feminist theory.
Using a
mixed
methods research design
, the
target population
of
7
,
392
registered tea grower
s in
Sanganyi
T
ea
F
actory
, Nyansiongo
T
ea
F
actory
, Nyankoba
T
ea
F
actory
, Kebirigo
T
ea
F
actory
and
Gianchore
T
ea
F
actory
who are members of Nyamira Tea SACCO
was
interviewed
.
Stratified random sampling was used to select 110 participants from
the
five tea factories
.
All the factory managers in the five tea factory were included in the
study as well as the county cooperative officer. Data was collected using questionnaires
and key informant interviews.
Quantitative
data was
analyse
d
using de
scriptive
statistics and
while
qualitative data
was analysed following
themes
.
The respondents
ranked the ma
jor hindrance of women participation in tea Sacco politics as: lack of
shares in the tea factory; lack of land ownership rights; fear to run against men
counterparts; low level of education; gender roles and lack of experience in politics.
The study theref
ore recommends affirmative action, advocacy and training of young
women on their democratic rights.
