By
Jacqueline
Njambi Kamau
+254724216046
Jacqueline.kamau@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This study
explores the role of Sponsored Communication Messages in the success of failure
of creating awareness of Two Third Gender Principle in Jubilee Alliance. The
study has analyzed the nature of Sponsored Communication Messages placed on K24
TV and Daily Nation and the level of information among party leaders and
members. In addition, the study establishes the impact of Sponsored
communication Messages. Jubilee Alliance as a case study is used to measure the
extent to which Two Third Gender Principle
has been considered in formation of administration and management of the party,
in the membership and party leadership. The study uses Spiral of Silence theory
and Social learning theories to explain the impact of Sponsored communication Messages on the awareness of Two Third Gender Principle.
Sampling was done using stratified and simple random sampling methods to come
up with a sample of 94 respondents. Data was collected using Focus Group
Discussion for party officials and questionnaire for other respondents. The
data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics, SPSS for quantitative
data while documentation, colour coding and numbering systems were used to
analyze qualitative data. The response rate was 87%. Majority of the
respondents were female at 52%. The study established that majority of the
respondents had not watched or read Sponsored Communication Messages. However,
majority of those who watched and read Sponsored Communication messages rated
them to be highly informative and persuasive. The participants of Focus Group
Discussion had a good understanding of Two Third Gender Principle. They
explained the merits and a few demerits of creating awareness and implementing
Two Third Gender Principle within structures of Jubilee Alliance member
parties. The findings of the study indicate that Sponsored Communication
Messages have not been effective in emphasizing the importance of implementing
Two Third Gender Principle among political parties of Jubilee Alliance.
INTRODUCTION
In both local and global level, women’s leadership and political
participation is restricted by laws and culture among other factors. In
political Parties like Jubilee Alliance (JA), women are underrepresented as
members and officials. To address this challenge there are International
commitments to women’s representation. This include The Beijing Platform for
Action that calls for removing barriers to equal participation and
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women that upholds women’s right to play
a part in public life (World Bank, 2015).
Gender equality is one of the Sustainable Development Goals. In Africa,
there is a 50-50 declaration by African Union (AU) to be achieved by 2030.
These are some of the global efforts on legislative and constitutional reforms
to ensure women are able to r access to political spheres as voters, candidates
and elected party officials (World Bank, 2014).
Recognizing this, The
Constitution of Kenya (2010), domesticates these commitments to safeguard human
rights and fundamental freedoms and entrenches the concept in article 81 (b):“Not more than two thirds of
the members of elective or appointive bodies shall be of the same gender”. The
Two Third Gender Principle (TTGP). To date, Kenya is a signatory to
various international and regional policies. These include the, The African
Union Protocol to the African Charter on Human, The Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action, Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Peoples Rights
on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) and the Solemn Declaration
on Gender Equality in Africa. Thus, the government has to advocate these
principles and attain equitable gender representation (Melcote & Steeves,
2001).
Sponsored Communication
Messages act as catalysts for awareness and implementation of Two Third Gender
Principle in Kenya. According to Gender Datasheet (2013), local media is
sponsored by Development partners to increase and promote the roles of
Nominated Women Senators, Members of County Assemblies and Members of
Parliaments who are nominated or elected under the Gender Principle, Cabinet
Secretaries and Principal Secretaries.
Role of Sponsored Communication Messages
The low proportional representation of women in
political and governance structures in Kenya’s political parties has brought
about the introduction of gender quotas. In The National Alliance Party (TNA) one
of the members of Jubilee Alliance (JA) out of 72 Members of Parliament (MPs)
only 13 are female (Gender Datasheet, 2013). The Constitution of Kenya (2010), Article 81 (b) requires the
electoral system to adhere to TTGP. Even though Article 177 that requires
Article 81(b) and article 27 (8) of the Constitution of Kenya (2010), to be
complied with, TTGP has not been attained both at the National Assembly and
Senate and County Assemblies (World Bank 2015).
According to World Bank (2015), there is low
representation of women in elective posts. In Kenya National Assembly there are
349 members only 86 are women 20.7%. The same problem is in the party under
study, among the 12 top party officials in Jubilee Alliance one is a woman and
she holds a member position in the secretariat. In The National Executive Board
(NEB) only 3% are women (Mzalendo, 2015). The Women League in Jubilee Alliance
has attempted to lobby for inclusion of the women as top officials of the party
but in vain. UN WOMEN funded printing of Newspaper Adverts and Fliers for the
Women League in order to persuade the Party Leaders to include more women in
the administration and management of the party. Thus, development partners such
as UN WOMEN, USAID and Action AID seek to alleviate this problem through
sponsored communication messages. However, underrepresentation of women is
still evident (Oakley,
1972).
It is important to seek for a solution to create awareness and enhance
implementation of the Two Third Gender Principle in the party officials,
National Executive Council, National Executive Board and The Party Secretariat.
If this is not done, decisions by the Executive bodies maybe overruled due to
lack of women representation and the party primaries will be gender
discriminative since women concerns will not be represented in the party (Mzalendo,
2015). This study therefore seeks to determine the role of sponsored
communication messages on creating awareness leading to implementation of Two
Third gender principle and to determine the impact of Sponsored
Communication Messages on Jubilee Alliance.
This study
will explore the changes that Jubilee Alliance is making in order to
accommodate Gender Principle in the party structures after interaction with
sponsored communication messages. Through this study, there will be increased
awareness of the Two Third Gender Principle and the importance of implementing
it. The study uses Jubilee Alliance as a case since it is a national coalition
with membership in all the forty seven counties unlike other political parties
that have regional strongholds and no representation in some parts of the
country (Jubilee
Alliance, 2012).
The
study will enhance realization of Article 81 (b) on TTGP in political
representation during and after the 2017 elections within Jubilee Alliance.
Increased awareness of TTGP among MPs in JA through this study will lead to
enacting of the law envisaged in Article 177 (1) (c) and 100 of the
Constitution of Kenya 2010. This lead to
increased representation of the
marginalized groups who include women, persons with disabilities and youth.
UNWOMEN,
Action Aid, USAID
and UKAID are among organizations that sponsor the messages. The study will use
them to measure the impact of the messages. In addition, Kenyans especially
members of Jubilee Alliance will get up to date information of the
implementation of Two Third gender Principle in the party.
The
Sponsors of Communication messages advertise at K24 since it is a national
television and it is objective in broadcasting political issues. Daily Nation
Newspaper is selling the largest number of copies and is accessible online
hence advertisements are placed in this newspaper largely compared to other
stations and newspapers (Africa Woman and Child Feature Service, 2015).
Sponsored
Communication Messages aim at persuading party leaders and officials to include
women in decision making positions and elect women leaders for representation.
This is through use of persuasion. All persuasion begins with capturing
attention. Without attention, persuasion is impossible. Thus, the messages use
very memorable images and words that are likely to generate attention
(Nageshwar & Rajendra, 2012).
To enhance
persuasion, Sponsored Communication messages are specific, easy to remember,
expose expectations and goals. They provide targets for persons, households and
community in order to be of use (Berlo,
1960).
It is
important to note that TTGP is only a beginning, political will is required to
enhance the expectations of the TTGP are implemented. Key participants include
political parties, Non-Governmental Organizations, The Acting Registrar of
Political Parties and Sponsored communication messages are very crucial in
working together to enhance the achievement of TTGP (Ochiel, 2013).
The Two Third Gender Principle
The Social Democratic
Party (SDP) in Rwanda has the largest number of Women Party officials in
Africa. 40% of the party Secretariat is composed of women. Democrats in the
United States of America (USA) are known to be inclusive of women with Hillary
Clinton as their presidential candidate in 2016. Alliance Party in The United Kingdom
has 10 % women representation in its National Executive Body (NEB) (Mufford,
2011).
Although the number of
women representatives in parliament has improved, it is way below the required
33.3% if the TTGP is to be observed. In the last presidential elections 2013,
there was Hon. Martha Karua a female candidate. In spite of this there have
only been two presidential candidates since independence (Gender Data Sheet, 2013).
As stated
by World Bank (2015), compared to other countries, Kenya is way behind in
inclusion of women in leadership positions. The introduction of TTGP is a
milestone but its implementation is way below the expectations. Kenya being a
signatory to various global laws on women leadership, it is yet to implement
TTGP (World Bank 2015).
Jubilee
Alliance (JA) is a legal coalition registered under Political Parties Act
(2012). JA belongs to men, women, youth and children from every part of this
country, Kenya (Jubilee
Alliance, 2012). The
Alliance structures include Jubilee Alliance Interim National Executive
Council, Party leaders are H. E. Uhuru Kenyatta and H.E. William Ruto Deputy
President, Co-Chairpersons Hon. Noah Wekesa and Hon. Kiraitu Murungi. The Alliance
has a National office and they plan to move to the counties to roll out the
county programs (Mzalendo, 2015).
In
2013 JA was formed by coming together of The National alliance (TNA) and United
Republican Party (URP) and Republican Congress (RC) and other parties, promised
to implement TTGP in its party and in formation of its government. The first
cabinet had five women and had met TTGP requirements. Its appointments and
recruitments into Public Service Commission (PSC) have at least met the gender principle.
In addition, the alliance has the most number of nominated MPs, MCAs and
Senators (Africa Woman and Child Feature Service, 2015).
The
National Governing Council has all elected and nominated Jubilee Governors,
their deputies, MPs, Senators, while Speakers and Majority Leaders represents
County Assemblies. The national representation of the party has set high
standards of future politics of Kenya. The JA has a renewed resolve and
dynamism to change the political history of the nation (Jubilee Alliance, 2012).
Constitutional gender quotas are the most effective and critical
means of ensuring women are represented in political parties. Countries such as
Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania and Rwanda have made very good
progress in ensuring women’s representation through constitutional gender
quotas in the structures and running of political parties (World Bank 2015).
The Spiral of Silence Theory
was proposed by a German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. The
Spiral of Silence Theory insists that individuals have a fear of isolation,
that results from the fact that a social group or the society may isolate,
neglect, or exclude members because of members' opinions (Neolle-Neumann, 1993).
According to Neolle-Neumann
(1993), this fear of isolation as a result leads
to remaining silent instead of voicing opinions. Media is an important aspect
that relates to both the dominant idea and people's perception of the dominant
idea.
Lee (2013), shares that
Spiral of Silence Theory is applied to establish the need to raise other voices
for a specific agenda. The Sponsored communication messages are put in place to
counter dominant voices and influence implementation of TTGP among political
parties Jubilee party of Kenya.
In this study, The Spiral
of Silence Theory is of great value in explaining why the sponsored
communication messages are used as alternatives to the dominant voice that is
condemning women leadership. The study will use the theory to explain isolation
of women in Jubilee Alliance and how a different voice is being used to enhance
awareness and thereafter implementation of Two Third Gender principle within
the party (Neolle-Neumann, 1993).
The proponent of Social
Learning Theory Albert Bandura (1977), believed that direct reinforcement could
not explain all types of learning. His theory added a social element, stating
that people can learn new information and manners by watching other people
known as observational learning. According to Gong
(2014), this learning
can be used to explain a wide variety of behaviors.
Bandura (1977),
stipulates three models of observational learning; A live model, which entail
an actual individual demonstrating behavior. A verbal instructional model,
involves descriptions of a behavior. A symbol model has real or fictional
characters displaying behavior in books, television programs, or online media
(Bandura, 1977).
The two third gender
principle will be known and implemented through change of beliefs towards
women. These beliefs are acquired through observation, vicarious learning, and
assimilation of cultural stereotypes (Kassilly & Onkware, 2010). Thus by providing sponsored communication
messages that have consistent pictures, documentaries of women leaders, and
current women leadership in other countries. It is expected that political
parties will be able to understand and integrate women in the party structures.
Social learning theorists state that the exposure and consistence stress will
lead to implementation of TTGP by political parties.
The main goal of
sponsored communication message is to influence and crate awareness. According
to Miller (2011), social learning theory suggests that SCM influences people via
modeling. Modeled behavior is most likely to be adopted when there is attractive
model whose behavior is rewarded. Therefore, Sponsored Communication messages
create a positive image of women participation in political parties and thus
increases the demand for more women in management of political parties
(Kassilly & Onkware, 2010).
This theory is important
to the study since it explains use of Sponsored Communication Messages to
reinforce information on TTGP. Sponsored Communication Messages use this theory
by highlighting achievement of female leaders and hence observational learning.
Thus the study will use this theory in determining the degree of this
observational learning and the impacts on implementation of Two Third Gender
principle (Berlo,
1960).
Sponsored
Communication messages through mass media raise awareness and shape the
implementation of Two Third Gender Principle in Jubilee Alliance. This is
influenced by factors such as political, economic and cultural factors,
individual traits and character such as ego or male chauvinism. The result of
this is inclusion of more women in party structures and party affairs, election
and appointments of women in leadership and decision making positions when
party leaders are reached by the sponsored communication Messages.
According to Kombo &
Tromp (2006), the relationship between variables is outlined in a CF. In this
study, the independent variable are mass media, sponsored messages, TTGP, then
the intervening variables are political, economic and cultural factors , individual traits and
character. While the dependent variable are increased women participation,
election and appointment of women
Thus, Sponsored
Communication Messages aired on K24 is shaped by interest of media owners and
editorial policies. These factors result in lack of awareness on implementation
of Two Third Gender Principle and hence less participation in political party
decision making positions (Oakley, 1972).
This study has identified a research
gap in the impact of Sponsored Communication Messages on the implementation of
Two Third Gender principle among political parties. Literature review indicates
that implementation of Gender Principle has been analyzed at National Assembly,
Senate and County Assemblies leaving out political parties despite political parties nominating candidates for
election (Mzalendo, 2016).
Therefore, it is
important to determine the implementation of Gender Principle within party
structures. They have impact on the number of women candidates nominated
depending on the representation of women in the party (Kassilly, & Onkware,
2010).
The research site will be
Jubilee Alliance Headquarters at King'ara road, Lavington. Nairobi, Kenya and
offices of UNWOMEN at UN Gigiri Complex, UN Avenue
Block M, Ground Floor and USAID office at Village market.
Block M, Ground Floor and USAID office at Village market.
Kothari
(2008), describes research design as the structure of a research. Research
design constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis
of data. This study will use mixed method approach. This means it will have
both qualitative and quantitative data. This will eliminate limiting view of
qualitative or quantitative research method that may be misleading. Mixed
method approach will provide different paradigms and help to gain a holistic
perspective. In addition, there are gains in breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration (Lindlof & Taylor, 2002).
A case
study of Jubilee Alliance will be used since it is a national party with
membership throughout the country and has well established party structures.
This case will make the study excels at bringing an understanding of a complex
issue and add strength to what is already known through previous research.
According to Skate (1995), case studies put emphasis on a detailed contextual
scrutiny of a specific number of actions and the way they are related.
The target
population of this study is both male and female aged 20-75 years since they
can relate with and understand the Two Third Gender Principle and its
implementation. They include National Party Officials who are 17 in number,
1500 members of National Executive Council, 100 members of National Executive
Body, 30 Staff Members of Communication Departments of Sponsoring organization.
Total Study population is 1647 persons.
In this study, sample
population was drawn from Party records and membership databases. In addition,
the sponsoring organizations provided lists of staff members in their
communication departments.
This
research will use Stratified Sampling and Simple Random Sampling methods.
Stratified sampling, the populations apply a number of distinct categories that
are organized into separate "strata." In this study include party
officials, Members of National Executive Council, Members of National Executive
Body, and staff members Communication Departments of Sponsoring organization.
The Study
data will be collected through Focus Group Discussions (FGD) and use of
questionnaire. Questionnaires will be used for the National Executive Council,
National executive Body and Staff members of Sponsors. This study will apply both participating pretests to five people and undeclared pretests to five people
among the study sample. Data will be analyzed
using descriptive statistics which will involve use of frequencies and
percentages for quantitative data. This
research will also use SSPS data analysis approach for quantitative data.
The University of Nairobi
School of Journalism and Mass Communication provided a Certificate of Fieldwork
on the study allowing the researcher to embark on data collection. The
certificate had an explanation that will be given to the respondents on the
purpose of the study and seek their consent to participate. The respondents
were guaranteed of confidentiality regarding the information they are to give.
Before each session, respondents were asked to sign a consent form. All
respondents were allowed to ask any clarification they need.
Response
rate is the percentage of subjects who respond to questionnaires. A response
rate of 50% is considered adequate for analysis and reporting (Mugenda, 1999).
The researcher had selected a sample of 94 respondents for the study. The
questionnaires were distributed among party members, NEC, NEB and Party
officials formed the Focus Group Discussion. 40 (48.8%) of the respondents were
male while 42 (51.2%) were female. This shows that women are majority in party
membership despite the few leadership position offered to them within Party
leadership structures. Majority of the respondents (43.9%) were aged 20-30
years, 19.5% were aged 30-40years, 17.1% were aged 40-50 years, 14.6% were aged
60-70 years and 4.9% were aged 50-60 years.
Respondents
were asked to state their position in the party. 74.4% of the respondents were
members of the National executive council, 12.2% were members of the National
executive Body, 7.3% were staff members of Jubilee Alliance and 6.1% were
National Party Officials. This shows that the majority of the respondents
(74.4%) were members of the National Executive Council. Respondents were asked
if they had any disabilities. 85.4% said
that they had no disabilities, while 14.6% said they had disabilities.
The study sought to find out the
party that the respondents belonged to. 35 (42.7%) respondents were members of
URP party, 32 (39.0%) were members of the TNA party, 6(7.3%) were members of
RP, 5(6.1%) were members of NARC and 4 (4.9%) were members of other parties in
the Jubilee Alliance. Majority of the respondents were therefore members of URP
party while the minority were members of other parties.
Respondents were asked how they
would rate the informative nature of the sponsored communication message on Two
Thirds Gender Principle. 34.1% rated the message as highly informative, another
34.1% rated it as informative, 26.4% rated it as neutral and 4.9% rated it as
non informative. No respondent rated the message as highly non-informative.
Majority of the respondents therefore rated the message as highly informative
and informative.
The Center for Gender Advocacy
(2016), recommends that SCM should be highly informative and should persuade
the viewers to support women leaders. Majority of the respondents rated
the SCM as highly informative and informative. Thus the SCM used were effective
in promoting implementation of TTGP within party structures of Jubilee
Alliance. Majority of the participants in the FGD described the messages
as being very informative. This shows that SCM had very important information
that could be used by the participants to inform their decisions of the
membership and political party structures based on gender among other factors.
Respondents
were asked to state the extent to which they agreed with the statement ‘The
sponsored communication message I have watched or read has persuaded me to
support, vote or nominate women leaders’. Majority of the respondent (46.3%),
strongly agreed, 39% agreed, 9.8% were indifferent, 4.9% disagreed while and no
respondent disagreed. This means that
SCM were persuaded the
respondents to support or nominate women leaders.
The study sought to find out
whether the sponsored communication on Two Thirds Gender Principle clearly
demonstrated women as good leaders. Majority of the respondents (82.9%) said
that the message portray had read or watched portrayed women as good leaders
while 17.1% said that the message did not portray women as good leaders.
In Gender advocacy messages women
should be portrayed as skilled and competent leaders (Donatella, 2013).This has
been achieved by SCM since majority of the respondents felt that SCM portrayed
women as good leaders.
The
study sought to determine the impact
of Sponsored Communication Messages on Jubilee Alliance. Respondents
were asked whether sponsored communication messages had influenced their
understanding of the Two Thirds Gender Principle. The majority (58.5%) said it
had influences their understanding of the Two Thirds Gender Principle and 41.5%
said it had not influenced their understanding.
This shows that majority of the respondents were influenced by SCM and had a better understanding of TTGP.
Respondents
were asked to state the changes that had been made by Jubilee Alliance after interacting
with sponsored communication messages on Two Thirds Gender Rule. Majority of
the respondents (34.1%) said that the alliance had made few changes, 24.4% said
it had made many changes, 14.6% said it had made very few changes, 14.6% said
it had made no changes while 12.2% felt that it had made very many
changes. This is an indication of little
effort to implement the TTGP within Jubilee Alliance Structures.
Respondents were asked to state the positions
created within Jubilee Alliance to accommodate women leaders within the
coalition’s structures. They said that the Jubilee Alliance had created the
following positions: Ministry of Gender, UWEZO Funds for women. The following
positions were created within the parties, Women League, Deputy Secretary General.
Warembo na Uhuruto was formed in all parties affiliated to Jubilee Alliance.
This shows that Jubilee Alliance had created a few positions to accommodate
women leaders.
The study sought to find out from
the national party officials the percentage of female leaders in the positions
of senator, Members of parliament, governor and deputy governor. This included
both elected and nominated leaders.
23.3% of senators were women, 16.6% of deputy governors were women,
13.3% of members of parliament were women and there were no women governors.
The findings therefore show that the Two Thirds Gender Principle was not
adhered to in among leaders who were members of the Jubilee Alliance.
As per the questions asked, the
researcher managed to have a focused group discussion with a TNA and URP party
official at party headquarters. Majority of party officials are aware of TTGP
as it is in the constitution. The participants responses outlined the benefits
of implementing Two Third Gender rule as follows. First, there is increased
representation of women. Decisions concerning women issues in the party are
arrived at from an informed perspective since information about women is
availed by both men and women. TTGP is also included in Political Parties
Constitutions. Thus, implementing TTGP means implementing party constitution to
that allows for affirmative action. There increased membership since more women
are recruited and they register and become active members of the political
parties.
In addition, there increased public
participation within the party since both women and men participate in the
party activities. This also gives women representation of women within
administration and management of the parties.
The participant responded
indicating that leaders they had seen in Sponsored Communication Messages include; Hon.Wangari
Mathaai, Hon. Phoebe Asiyo, Hon. Julia Odhiambo, Hon. Alice Muthoni Wahome,
Hon. Prisilla Nyokabi, H.E First Lady Margaret Kenyatta, H.E Racheal
Ruto and Prof. Olive Mugenda. This means that party officials party felt
that strong women leaders who are performers and have set best standards have
been used to promoted women leadership
The part officials have a good
understanding of Two Third Gender Principle as provided for in the
constitution. The respondents also indicated that members of their political
parties had very minimal levels of understanding of Two Third Gender Principle.
They indicated that parties had intentions of creating awareness of TTGP among
their members before the 2017 general elections.
The respondents described the implementation of Two
Third Gender Principle within Jubilee Alliance using he following examples of
positions created within the political parties Deputy Secretary General position
reserved for women, Party women representative in the NEC. TNA had a female
Executive Director Winnie Guchu. It is a requirement within JA to have Young
women groups in the parties such as Warembo na Uhuruto. Further efforts
towards implementation of TTGP include having bloggers and social media
partners that have complied with TTGP requirements.
The participants indicated that SCM
had a great impact on the leadership of Jubilee Alliance. The implementation of
TTGP has been great considering that 30% of the staff members in the four
parties are women. It was noted that women had been given the deputy positions
and this was likely to change as the parties implemented TTGP fully.
The participants observed that
parties within Jubilee alliance had become stronger and membership increased by
accommodating and promoting women leaders. The Party Officials also noted that
party nomination fees for women persons with disability and youths was reduced by
half during party nominations in 2013 and majority of the party members
appreciated and took advantage of the waiver.
The only disadvantage of
implementing TTGP stated by the participants was that sometimes women have
conflicts within themselves and this leads to disagreements in making
decisions.
Thus, the participants had
interacted and understood SCM and had made changes within the parties after
implementing TTGP. In addition, participants stated that women are more united
and are committed to the development of the parties compared to men.
According
to the findings, majority of the respondents had not seen the sponsored
communication message on K24 T.V station and majority of those who had watched
the message had only watched it once in a week. Majority of the respondents
(58.5%) had not seen the message in the Daily Nation newspaper.
Majority
of those who had seen the message found it either informative or highly
informative. Majority of the respondents who had seen the message were
persuaded by the message to support, vote or nominate women leaders. Most of
the respondents were of the opinion that the sponsored message they had read or
watched clearly portrayed women as good leaders.
A
68.3% majority of the respondents understood the Two Thirds Gender Principle
and were able to describe the principle correctly. The respondents who
understood the principle gave benefits of implementing the principle. Majority
of the respondents said that implementing of the principle would be beneficial
since women were more compassionate leaders. The study has established that
only 7.3% of those who have interacted with Sponsored communication Messages
were persuaded that implementing Two Thirds Gender Principle was not
beneficial. This shows that majority of the respondents found it beneficial to
implement the Two Thirds Gender Principle thus having more women in leadership.
This direct reinforcement using women leaders in Sponsored Communication
Messages can be used to account for the learning the importance of
implementing the Two Third Gender Principle as indentified
through Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977).
Majority
of the respondents rates the Jubilee alliance as very good in the
implementation of the Two Thirds Gender rule and the minority rated the
Alliance poor in terms of implementing the Two Thirds Gender rule.
However,
24.4% of respondents agreed and 19.5% strongly agree with the statement that
the Two Thirds Gender Principle should not be implemented and women should
therefore compete for positions with men. These findings are consistent with Noel-Neumann’s (1993) claims
that fear of isolation leads to remaining silent instead of voicing
opinions. Due to the minimal number of women in the structures of Jubilee
Alliance there is isolation and the messages passed by alternative voice through
sponsored communication messages has not been successful since majority of the
respondents think it is not important to implement the Two Third Gender
Principle.
The study sought
to find out the impact of sponsored communication messages on Jubilee Alliance.
Majority of the
respondents (58.5%) said that the sponsored communication messages they had
read or watched influenced their understanding of the Two Thirds Gender
Principle.
Majority of the respondents indicated that
Jubilee alliance only made few changes after interacting with Sponsored
communication messages on Two Thirds Gender Principle. The alliance had however
created new positions to accommodate women leaders. The positions included the Ministry of Gender, UWEZO Funds for women, Women
League, Deputy Secretary General (TNA and URP) and Warembo na Uhuruto.
Most (68.3%) respondents indicated that Jubilee
Alliance had not implemented the Two Thirds Gender Principle in their alliance.
This was confirmed by finding out the percentage of women leaders who were
members of the alliance. Of all senators, governors, deputy governors and
members of parliament who were members of the alliance, only 13.9% were women.
This falls way short of the 33.3% proposed by the Two Thirds Gender Principle.
According
to Lindlof &Taylor (2002), a
conclusion is a deduction or inference that a researcher can come up with based
on the findings of the study. From the findings of the study, the researcher
concluded that Sponsored Communication Messages were not popular among respondents
since most of them had neither seen them on television nor in Daily Nation
newspaper. However, the messages were informative and persuasive and
demonstrated women as good leaders.
The
level of information given by the sponsored messages was adequate to enable a
better understanding among respondents. However, respondents were not in
support of the Two Thirds Gender Principle and were of the opinion that women
should compete for leadership positions with men.
Sponsored
communication messages influences the understanding of the Two Thirds Gender
Principle among respondents. However, it did not have a significant impact in
the Jubilee Alliance since it had not implemented TTGP.
Smith(1993),
defines recommendation as what the researcher suggests should be done in future
in order to improve or clarify the results of the study as well as what should
be done to solve the problem. The following
recommendations were suggested based on the findings of the study:
The government should develop
policies and laws to ensure that no more than two third of elective or
appointive bodies shall be of the same gender. These policies should be made
within The National Assembly to cater for national government and The Senate to
cater for county governments.
Political parties to implement
the Two Third Gender Principle in their party structures, party list for
nominations, elective positions nominations, national party officials, National
Executive Council, National Delegates Congress and National Governing
Council. This will ensure that women are given better opportunities for
election since they will get nominations of political parties in their
strongholds.
Political Parties to be funded in
order for them to develop SCM, conduct civic education among their members and
create awareness on the Two Third Gender Principle (TTGP). In Addition, amounts
allocated by development partners to Non-Governmental Organizations to be
increased so that they can develop more content for SCM and make them
persuasive and available on both weekdays and weekends.
The government should also to come
up with policies and enhance capacity building and create awareness on The Two
Third Gender Principle n Article 81 of The Constitution (2010). This should be
done by the private sector and organizations such as churches, corporates,
women and youth groups.
In future researchers can consider
conducting study on Sponsored Communication Message (SCM) that is aired on
radio, blogs, wikis and social media. This could add information of
distribution of SCM among vernacular and national radio stations. A study could
be conducted on other coalitions such as Coalition for Democracy and Reforms
(CORD), Amani Coalition and any other political parties.
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