Nairobi Kenya — The Law Society of Kenya has decried the low number of women rising to powerful posts despite their credentials.

LSK Vice chairperson Faith Odhiambo said that the proportion of women in the legal profession is rising, however, there are fewer women advancing into top positions in the legal industry.

Speaking during the launch of a report on women in law and leadership, Odhiambo stated that more women need to take up positions in academia, the bar and the judiciary.

She singled out the chief justice, the deputy chief justice, and the court registrar as examples of powerful women in the country that young lawyers and academic women should aspire to be like.

"We have the chief Justice, the deputy chief Justice and the court registrar of the judiciary being women and this shows what women are capable of," she said.

She claimed that although there are more women in the judiciary and in parliament, there are still few women practicing law.

"Our statistics at the last site were 9783 Female advocates while the active ones only were 6400, we have 11,815 male advocates, while the active ones are 7420," she said.

"275 are in lawyers' academia, 155 Associates, 808,418 in House lawyers 1281 equals officers, 111 partners," she added.

"In every sphere, we find ourselves we must create unique identities in the spaces that we have," she told the women present.

According to Rose Wachuka of the Institute for African Women in Law (IAWL), although there are more women joining the bar, the bench, and academic, there are still many obstacles preventing them from rising to the top of all professions.

"We know we have increased the numbers of women entering the academia, the bench and also the bar. But we know that there are barriers to them rising to the highest levels of all," she said.

She promised that the institution will investigate the hurdles in order to make programmatic suggestions that may assist women in reaching the highest positions in each of these industries.