Nairobi:  Although women in Kenya would vote for female candidates for Parliament, the majority would still prefer a man to lead the country, according to a new opinion poll.

In the poll by Infotrack Harris, only two women, former Justice minister Martha Karua and Water minister Charity Ngilu, were mentioned among the top 10 most-trusted political leaders. Ms Karua was ranked third, and Mrs Ngilu was eighth.

Prime Minister Raila Odinga topped the list of political leaders preferred by female voters, followed by Ms Karua. Both are leaders of political parties, Narc-Kenya and Narc respectively, and have been involved in the fight for women's rights for many years.

They also played a major role in the dethroning of Kanu in the 2002 General Election. The two were allies of the President but have since broken ranks with him. Mrs Ngilu opted to work with Mr Odinga, while Ms Karua resigned from the Cabinet last year, accusing the Kibaki administration of frustrating her reform agenda. She announced she would seek the presidency in 2012.

On gender equality, the poll says the majority of those interviewed felt that women were still disadvantaged in education and employment. "Majority of Kenyan women (65 per cent) feel that gender equality is still not exercised to the expected levels in the country," says the poll released ahead of International Women's Day on Monday.

Although the women interviewed were aware of the day, 70 per cent did not know when it is celebrated. Countries have the option of coming up with their own themes for the March 8 commemoration, but the United Nations has always come up with global messages to mark the day. This year's global theme is "Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All".

The poll indicated that 64 per cent of Kenyans overall want more emphasis on gender parity. About 72 per cent of the respondents said the government had not done enough to create equal opportunities for men and women in the job market. Studies done by other research organisations have pointed to inequalities in salaries between men and women doing similar jobs. The disparities tend to favour men.

The second concern for women is about education and training. About 47 per cent of those interviewed felt not enough had been done to educate girls. "The poor performance in the science- related subjects by girls especially leaves them disadvantaged, when it comes to higher education and indeed employment," the survey said.

Performance in sciences

In last year's Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination, boys were again dominant in the science subjects. Education minister Sam Ongeri said the government would form a task force to investigate the causes of the poor performance of girls in sciences.

Violence against women was third on the list of concerns viewed as hindering the achievement of gender equality, with 41 per cent of those interviewed demanding more action by the government. On the political scene, 52 per cent of those interviewed said written and unwritten rules favour men in politics, but respondents said they appreciated the increased number of women in Parliament. If passed by Parliament, the harmonised draft constitution will stress gender equality in the Bill of Rights and other chapters.

The draft also sets aside 47 seats specifically for women. The poll was conducted between February 24 and 28 in the country's eight provinces; 1,200 respondents were interviewed. The interviews were conducted using purposive random sampling, and had a 95 per cent level of confidence.