World will make huge strides with equality in leadership 

For years, women have fought for gender balance in decision-making in business, politics, at the workplace and even the family.

This activism has had successes and shortfalls. There are female MPs in Kenya and many other countries around the world. 

In others, however, women are still under-represented, owing to retrogressive attitudes towards gender equality. 

In such countries, women are regarded as caregivers. This makes women vulnerable and puts them at greater risk of domestic and sexual violence. 

Events in Afghanistan after the August 15 Taliban takeover demonstrate this. Many educated women are a worried lot. 

Some rural Kenyan communities still haven’t embraced women leadership. 

Even more worrying is the growing toxic masculinity etched in our generation. When men feel superior and attempt to control women, the latter feel oppressed. 

While feminism may have led to gains, we still has a long way to go to achieve gender parity. 

We must acknowledge the fundamental differences between men and women, not only in their physiology, but in their way of thinking too.

Research has shown that women are better at reading comprehension and writing than men. Women outperform men in tests involving fine-motor coordination and perceptual speed. They are also more adept at retrieving information from long-term memory.

Men can juggle items in working memory more easily than women. They have superior visuospatial skills. They can easily visualise what happens when a complicated two or three-dimensional shape is rotated. 

From these, researchers conclude that if women are placed at the same levels of political and social fields, they would outperform men. 

Socrates put it even more accurately: ‘‘Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior.’’

Needless to say, there’s still a pay gap between what male and female company leaders earn. 

The report “Women, Business and The Law 2021”, shows that co-equality will not be achieved in a world in which only 10 countries offer full legal protection to women. 

Zahrah is a communication student at Maseno University