Hillary’s win will be epic achievement for mankind

Jeannette Rankin of Montana was the first woman to serve in the United States Congress in 1916. This was well over 140 years after independence in July 1776. As Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton focuses on her appointment with history, it is daunting to reflect on the political path the American woman has walked. She had to wait for nearly one and a half centuries before serving in the legislature. Yet, it only gets worse. Consider that American women only began voting after the 19th Amendment in 1920. Rebecca Felton of Georgia was the first woman in the US Senate in 1922. Other historic triumphs came in quick order. Alice Robertson of Oklahoma became the first woman to preside over the House of Representatives, that same year. Mae Ella Nolan of California became chair of a congressional committee in 1923, while Hattie Caraway was elected to the Senate in 1932. The rest is history, as the saying goes.

In the patriarchal world we live in, it has not been easy history, however. Women remain an insignificant minority in the legislature the world over. Here in Kenya, the Constitution provides for women’s inclusion. In practice, men will do everything to ensure women are excluded. Parliament has recently lost the chance to legislate for the two-thirds Gender Principle. Legislators are hugely challenged to bring the legislature issues of import to women and girls.