Gichugu MP and presidential aspirant Martha Karua/ FILE
Chief Executive Officer Angela Ambitho said on Tuesday that 61 percent of Kenyans interviewed said Karua was most inspiring due to her boldness, courage as well as principled, purpose-driven and visionary leadership.
Charity Ngilu followed at 11 percent with majority of the respondents saying she is a good planner while the late Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai came in third for her conservation initiatives.
“We must ensure that the girl child is taken to school and given equal opportunities,” Ambitho said.
The findings released ahead of the International Women’s day celebrations to be marked on Thursday also showed that 48 percent of Kenyans would vote for a leader who would build on social capital.
“This is a leader who will live by the values and principles they talk about, a leader who will be honest have integrity and demonstrate to us clearly how you have these things and what your track record has been,” Ambitho emphasised.
“It means that you will not use the politics of ethnicity, divide-and-rule with us, you will actually try and bring all communities, all demographic groups together,” she stated.
At the same time, 63 percent of Kenyans were confident that the government was committed to promoting gender equality.
The reasons given were that there seemed to be equal employment opportunities in government offices and there was women empowerment at community level.
However, 25 percent of Kenyans felt that the government was not promoting gender equality while 12 percent were not sure.
“A third of the respondents said that gender discrimination still exists in public offices, another 30 percent said the government is yet to fully implement the one third requirement for either gender in elective bodies so that’s the reason that is driving them to feel that government is not committed enough to promoting gender equality,” Ambitho said.
The poll had 2,400 respondents across the country.
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