Nairobi:  Women in Kenya are not getting their fair share of top positions in the public service, Cabinet Minister Esther Murugi said.  Ms Murugi, the minister for Gender, Children and Social Development told a gender conference that this was despite a presidential directive that women should be give a third of the jobs in the civil service.  She said majority of top posts in Government are still held by men.

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"We have to act aggressively and we have to step on people's toes. Unless you are aggressive and willing to make their [politicians] life hell, I can assure you being in power will just remain a dream," said the Minister.

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In October 2006, President Kibaki ordered that at least 30 per cent of all public service recruitments, promotions and appointments be filled by women.  Prof Collette Suda, the secretary for Gender, said although the Government claims to have reached its target, gender equality is only present in lower cadres such as secretaries, clerks and cleaners. In upper-level management positions, however, she says women form less than 12 per cent of the total number of employees. She said that of the 32 such positions in the Ministry of Industry and Trade, for instance, only seven are held by women.

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"The presidential directive is not being implemented. We need to go beyond the rhetoric and translate it into concrete resources," said Ms Suda in her keynote address. She added that currently, less than 10 per cent of the 222 MPs in Parliament are women and out of 21 ministerial secretaries, only three, herself included, are women. As a result, the ministry is establishing a database to track the positions women currently hold, the ones for which they apply as well as their educational and professional backgrounds.

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"That way, when there is an advertisement for a job, if we have a good data bank of women who might be qualified, we will seek you out and we will only leave you alone if you say you are not interested," said Ms Murugi.

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Only 15 per cent of Cabinet ministers are women, a percentage that trails behind other countries in the East African region.