Nominated Senator Tabitha Mutinda has called for a more balanced approach to child empowerment, stressing that efforts to uplift girls must also include boys.
Speaking during an interview on Radio Generation on Friday, Senator Mutinda said that while girls have gained knowledge and skills through empowerment initiatives, many boys have been left behind, creating a gap in societal roles and expectations.
“I’ve been invited to speak to the girl child at different forums, and I’ve told stakeholders that just focusing on girls is not enough. We need to have boys in the room, men in the room, and embrace the He for She approach,” she said.
Senator Mutinda explained that the empowerment of girls has progressed faster than that of boys, leaving many young men struggling to keep pace.
“The girl child has been empowered with knowledge and skills, but the levels are not really matching. The boy child has been left thinking that being a man is about something else. We need to change that,” she said.
The senator stressed that her advocacy also targets boys, aiming to help them feel valued and capable of thriving in society.
“I want to represent the boy child so that they can match with our culture. They are an important part of society, and we need to ensure they are not left behind,” she added.
Senator Mutinda’s comments highlight the importance of inclusive programs that empower both genders. Experts argue that holistic child development requires educating, mentoring, and equipping both boys and girls to contribute meaningfully to society, ensuring that no child is left behind in the pursuit of equality.
Recent data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and partner reports reveal mixed disparities in the empowerment of boys and girls in Kenya.
While efforts to boost girls’ education have largely succeeded, with girls often outperforming boys in national examinations and achieving higher completion rates in some counties, boys continue to lag in areas such as literacy, numeracy in early grades, and graduation rates, and experience higher dropout rates in some instances.
Despite this, boys generally have a slightly higher Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) than girls at primary and secondary levels as of 2020.
Socio-economic factors, including poverty and rising education costs, disproportionately affect boys, who are more likely to enter the informal labour market, while regional disparities show that children in rural areas are more than twice as likely to be multidimensionally poor compared to their urban peers.
According to the 2017 report by the National Gender and Equality Commission, the boy child is perceived to be lagging behind the girl child in the gender equality agenda.
The majority of the respondents in that assessment expressed fear that if there are no interventions, the boy child will be left behind, especially in education, since there has been over-emphasis on the education of the girl child.
The assessment identified the key drivers of exclusion of the boy child to include those related to homes and families, the socialization process, cultural and traditional factors and peer pressure
