Lubao FM News 
Due to the efforts to implement the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2018 famously known as the two third Gender Bill, priority has been given to the female gender as compared to their male counterparts.
This clearly contradicts article 27 of the constitution of Kenya which provides that everyone is equal before the law and has the rights to equal protection and benefits of the law.
According to the National Gender and Equality Commission,a lot of factors come into play leading to the ‘exclusion’ of the boy child in the move to promote gender equality and freedom from discrimination such as poverty,forced early marriages,family related issues,cultural beliefs and practices,changes in social Norms and values,poverty and gaps in laws and policies on the rights of the boy child.
A good example cited by the aforementioned commission is the application of the section 8(1) of the sexual act which states that a person who commits an act which causes penetration with a child is guilty of an offence termed defilement’ with partiality since equally young boys who engage in sexual relations with young girls are arrested and charged with defilement while their female counterparts left to continue with their education regardless of whether it was done with or without the young girl’s consent.
This has led to the high neglect of male needs hence denying them the equal access to opportunities that females have. It has also contributed to some families giving priority to a girl’s education compared to the boy child.
In this current generation,the boy child has been undergoing alot causing them to live depression lifestyles,this has lead to more suicidal stories among men. Research by the World Bank confirms that men are at the highest risk category of suicide mortality rates with 9.1 men in every 100,000 affected.
Men are subjected to harsh life living as resources are distributed to girls first than boys. Seventy percent of men are subjected to hard life compared to seventy percent of girls in soft life.
It is time that the government and all other relevant stakeholders step up gender equality efforts taking into consideration both genders .
By Valary Amwayi
