Reality check: Girls born today must live to 97 to see gender equality

What you need to know:

• What breaks my heart even more is our government officials’ response to these statistics.
• How do we not feel targeted when our bodies are dumped all over?
• How do we not feel targeted when each morning brings news of another sister, mother, or daughter lost?

Each morning, as we scan the headlines about another woman’s life cut short, we’re confronted with a haunting truth: our country is failing its women and girls. The recent murder of three women from Eastleigh isn’t just statistics but a reflection of a deeper crisis that keeps me awake at night.

The numbers are staggering: 97 women murdered in just three months. Yet, what breaks my heart even more is our government officials’ response to these statistics, “Let the gender not feel they are being targeted.” How do we not feel targeted when our bodies are dumped all over? How do we not feel targeted when each morning brings news of another sister, mother, or daughter lost?

But this violence is just the tip of a much deeper iceberg. Kenya ranks 109th out of 139 countries in gender equality, according to the 2024 SDG Gender Index released this week. This, too, isn’t just a number – it’s a damning indictment of our collective failure.

Today, a mother in a maternity ward cradling her newborn daughter must confront a haunting reality: that precious baby girl will likely never see gender equality in her lifetime. According to the index, she would need to live to 97 – well beyond her life expectancy – to witness such a milestone.

The familiar rhetoric about women “overtaking” men rings hollow against the reality of our boardrooms, political chambers, and decision-making spaces. In my almost two decades of journalism, I’ve watched the same pattern repeat: men dominating every critical conversation about our lives, our bodies, our futures. The new data confirms what we see every day – decisions in key areas of our lives are still predominantly made by men.

What pains me most is that between 2019 and 2022, nearly 40 per cent of countries – home to over one billion women and girls – have either stagnated or declined in their progress towards gender equality. Kenya is among those sliding backwards, with our score actually declining during this period. The report shows that women’s views on key issues like food costs, housing security, and comfort with household income have significantly deteriorated.