The Legal Edge

  To deny a woman her basic rights is to challenge her very humanity ." Nelson Mandela. T his quote encapsulates the fundamental tension in the discourse on foetal rights and women's reproductive choices, highlighting the essential need to respect and uphold women's autonomy while navigating the complex moral landscape surrounding the rights of the unborn. The law does not choose between the rights of the mother and the rights of the unborn; it must navigate the complex terrain where life begins and personal autonomy is at stake.

Strengthening Gender Mainstreaming within Governance, Justice, Law and Order Sector (GJLOS) 1. Enhance Judicial Capacity: Train Judges, Magistrates, Chiefs, and Police: Conduct comprehensive and ongoing training programs on laws relating to women's property rights, including: Focus on Case Law: Emphasize High Court decisions confirming women's inheritance and property rights. Develop a Training Manual: Create a comprehensive manual for magistrates and customary leaders, clearly outlining case law that establishes the primacy of statute law over discriminatory customary law. Monitoring and Evaluation: Implement a system of "spot checks" to monitor court decisions and ensure adherence to the principles outlined in the training. Authority: This approach aligns with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which emphasizes the importance of judicial education and enforcement of women's rights. 2. Improve Access t...

MARXIAN THEORY     Karl Marx contribution to the theory is unique because he considered not only economic prerequisites for growth but also social consequences  He believed that the process of socialism was not gradual or evolutionary as assumed by the orders theory as it was characterized by conflict of inter between classes in the society. He saw struggle as an engine of social change and development  as -class struggle between the capitalist class and the workers. -The collapse of the capitalist system as the capitalist find investment unprofitable due to the ultimate fall of wages to the subsistence level. According to Marx, every society has a class structure consisting of the propertied and the non-propertied class - the labourers.  The propertied, i.e. the capitalists own the means of production while the workers own nothing but their labour power which has to be sold in exchange for a wage. Wages are used in the purchase of life's necessities s...

  Two thirds and appointment in the National vs County Article 81 of the Kenyan Constitution mandates that the electoral system comply with the principle that no more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender. Additionally, Article 27 requires the government to develop and pass policies and laws, including affirmative action programs, to address past discrimination.   While Article 177 aims to ensure that the two-thirds gender rule is implemented at the county level by nominating special seat members, this provision does not guarantee the same at the National Assembly and Senate.   The Constitution stipulates that the National Assembly shall include forty-seven women, each elected by the registered voters of the counties, with each county constituting a single-member constituency. It also provides for the nomination of sixteen women by political parties and one woman representing the youth and persons with disabilities in the Se...

Gender in the Constitution  Article 27 on Equality and Freedom of Discrimination states every person is equal before the Law and has equal protection and equal benefits of the law  Article 27(3) states  that women and men have the right  to equal treatment, including the right to equal opportunities in political , economic, cultural and social spheres  Article 27(3) states the State shall not discriminate directly or indirectly against any person on grounds of sex, pregnancy, marital status  Article 27(3): The state shall take legislative measures to implement two-thirds  of the members of elective protection and equal  benefits before the law  Article 40(1) states that every person has the right to acquire property rights individually or in association with others. Article 59(1) of the Constitution establishes the Kenya National Human Rights and Equality Commission. 92 The functions of the Commission, inter alia, are to promote gender equali...

Easter Boserup’s book, Women in Economic Development, 1970, the Seventh Kenya National Development Plan 2003 and the World Bank  2007 have awakened the realities that “man” does not necessarily include women. The contribution of women in development has largely remained unrecognized and tended to marginalise women thereby isolating them from participating in development and decision making and sharing unequal  shares in some of the  benefits of development.   Gender according to Mari Mikkola Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender Encapsulates the varied complex arrangements between men and women encompassing the organization of reproduction, the sexual divisions and cultural definitions of femininity and masculinity. Gender has been concerned with social relations - categories men and women male and female and interactions of men and women rather than their biological characteristics.It relates to their social activity - resources of production; work remuneration...