Bigger picture emerged from Koome’s fete 

With the official swearing-in of Chief Justice Martha Koome, Kenyans were understandably excited at the prospect of the first woman Chief Justice. However, it was a picture circulated by the Judicial Service Commission’s official social media pages that truly captured the magnitude and significance of this truly historic time.

In the photo was the top leadership of the Judiciary; a formidable team of three strong women dressed to the nines in heels and pearls, a red carpet rolled out for them against the background of the towering Supreme Court of Kenya. 

From left was Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu, Chief Justice Martha Koome and Chief Registrar of the Judiciary Anne Amadi.

If there ever was a picture that captured the times we live in, then this was it. 

It is very encouraging that little girls and young women in this country will grow up seeing women in top leadership positions; whether it is in the Judiciary or thousands of miles away in the US where Vice-President Kamala Harris is making history. 

It is no doubt that these pictures matter. Because they show us that it is possible. It is especially reassuring to see this happen in the public sector, in government and in high-stakes and high-octane environments like the Judiciary. Young women and girls watching now know that no careers or sectors are a no-go zone for women.

Powerful positions 

As a country, we must not allow this to become a once-in-a-lifetime event or a one-time show of support for women in leadership. 

We must normalise these occurrences. For example, we need to see more women taking up powerful leadership positions in national government at the Executive and the Legislature levels. We want to see more women as presidents, deputy presidents, Speakers of the National Assembly and Senate to mention a few. We want to normalise women governors, senators and members of Parliament.

To achieve this, we must recognise that it takes more than the sacrifice of a dedicated mother to raise a future woman CJ, but the collective effort of a society that is genuinely supportive of, acceptable of and comfortable with women in leadership.

Little girls and boys must be raised in a country that promotes equal opportunity for both genders in education, politics, work and especially in leadership opportunities. We must continually encourage women to put themselves out there and raise their hands for leadership positions. This will build a critical mass of women role models for the next generation. 

A single woman CJ or Deputy CJ in a decade is not enough. In fact, we can never have ‘enough women leadership’. We must not slide into this slippery slope of tokenism where women in leadership are few and far between. 

We need to mainstream female leadership to a point where we stop describing them based on their genders – ‘Madam CJ’, ‘Woman Deputy President’ to simply ‘Chief Justice’ and ‘President’.

Dr Chege is the Director, Innovation Centre, at Aga Khan University; [email protected]