Makueni County Gender Policy 2022

Abstract

Gender inequality in Makueni County as a major obstacle to socio-economic and political development of its people. The socio-economic development of the County is dependent on the full utilization of its human capital i.e both women and men. The County Government realizes that the continued marginalization and under-utilization of women who constitute 50.4 percent (population census 2019) of the County population is a major obstacle to its rapid socio-economic development. Gender equality was officially recognized in 1945 through the United Nations Charter as a global strategy for economic growth and poverty reduction. This set the stage for further development making it an integral component of the subsequent equality debates embodied in instruments particularly the 1967 Convention of the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW). The spirit of the CEDAW is rooted in the goals of the United Nations: “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women” as enunciated in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) among other international and regional treaties, conventions and agreements. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides the foundation for a just and decent future for all, where all men and women enjoy equal rights.