The National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) joins Kenya and the global community in commemorating International Women’s Day. The 2026 theme is “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls”. The theme aligns closely with the priority agenda of the 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), which focuses on ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, and addressing structural barriers that impede equality.

Globally, while violations of women’s rights persist, the justice systems often fail to deliver timely and effective redress. The World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law 2024 report shows that women have 64 percent of the legal protections available to men in key economic domains, including employment, entrepreneurship, asset ownership, and mobility. On the same depth, legal reform has expanded in many jurisdictions, including in Kenya, yet women continue to face obstacles in accessing their rights.

Kenya has established a progressive constitutional and legislative framework on equality and non-discrimination. Despite such progress, gender-based violence remains prevalent, with continued reports of physical, sexual, and psychological violence affecting women and girls. Cases of defilement of children continue to place pressure on investigative and judicial systems, while delays in prosecution undermine public confidence in the administration of justice. Widows and women in vulnerable circumstances continue to face property dispossession and succession-related disputes, despite clear legal protections. In many rural and marginalised areas, access to justice is constrained by the cost of legal processes, limited availability of legal aid services, inadequate investigative capacity, and protracted judicial determination.

 

Emerging risks further compound existing inequalities. Technology-facilitated gender-based violence has become a growing concern. Digital harassment, coordinated online abuse, and privacy violations create new barriers to women’s full participation in democratic and economic spaces. These forms of harm require coordinated regulatory, enforcement, and survivor-support mechanisms.

Although the Constitution requires that no more than two-thirds of members of elective bodies be of the same gender, the threshold remains unmet at the national level. Economic disparities shape women’s lived realities. Gender gaps persist in access to land, credit, formal employment, and enterprise growth. Women continue to bear a disproportionate share of unpaid care responsibilities, constraining economic participation and leadership advancement. While policy frameworks on gender-responsive budgeting exist, inconsistent application across sectors and counties reduces their transformative impact.

These challenges underscore a systemic weakness in implementation. Limited institutional coordination, weak enforcement of established legal protections, and inadequate gender-disaggregated data undermine accountability and limit informed, results-based policymaking.

On this International Women’s Day, therefore, the Commission has identified a compact of key priority opportunities that would accelerate access to justice for and among women, and protect and promote their rights, thus:

  1. Fast-track the review and amendment of the Sexual Offences Act, 2006, and strengthen the enforcement of all laws relating to gender-based violence and child protection.
  2. Adequately resource and fully implement the Report of the Technical Working Group on Gender-Based Violence Including Femicide,2025.
  3. Strengthen access to justice by expanding access to legal aid services, fast-tracking gender-based violence and child protection cases.
  4. Accelerate legislative and policy measures to fully implement the constitutional requirement on gender representation in elective and appointive bodies.
  5. Enhance gender-responsive budgeting to ensure public resources translate into measurable outcomes in women’s economic empowerment, care infrastructure, and social protection.
  6. Enforce property and succession laws to prevent the dispossession of widows and vulnerable women.
  7. Invest in integrated, gender-disaggregated data systems to strengthen monitoring, reporting, and accountability on equality commitments.
  8. Address harmful social norms through sustained community engagement, especially involving men and boys as allies in advancing gender equality.

The National Gender and Equality Commission reaffirms its commitment to monitoring compliance and strengthening accountability to ensure that rights are protected, justice is realised, and transformative actions are sustained for all women and girls.

Happy International Women’s Day!

Hon. Rehema Jaldesa

CHAIRPERSON