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{
    "id": 32251,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/32251/?format=api",
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    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, in Kenya we are dealing with both overt and covert issues of gender discrimination. Sometimes I get amazed, like when we talk in this House. I notice that sometimes we make major assumptions about the level we are at understanding of gender and related issues. I get amazed sometimes when we start discussions on affirmative action, especially on gender issues. I hear hon. Members saying that the Constitution talks about equality and, therefore, the Article that deals with affirmative action is a contradiction. It cannot be a contradiction. First, it is contained within the same Constitution and so, the framers who included me intended it to be that. The Speaker keeps reminding us that we keep forgetting that we are the ones who framed this Constitution. So, unlike Americans who framed theirs several centuries ago, we do not need to look too far back. We can interrogate ourselves, and we know the reasons that we brought affirmative action for. We were alive to the fact that there is need for equality, but we wanted affirmative action to bring people at par. I would want to equate it to a race. Kenyans are very good at races. If you have a person who is going to run 200 metres or 400 metres and the other one starts at 100 metres and has nothing hindering him, and you have another one starting at the beginning line, carrying a sack, a baby and a pregnancy, do we expect these people to run and compete fairly? Yes, she can carry the baby at the back and the pregnancy in front. That is the story of most women and yet you expect us to compete at the same level with you. It is not possible. Unfortunately, in the past, it was even worse. Now, the situation has changed and that is why we need affirmative action. It is because women are disadvantaged at many levels."
}