INTRODUCTION: Ladies and Gentlemen: I would like to thank those who organized this conference for giving me the opportunity to speak on the challenges facing minority women in.political participation in Kenya and other neighboring countries notably, East and Horn of Africa.. I will focus on my own experience in Kenya to highlight the challenges faced by women in our region in their effort to participate in our political process and hope to offer some possible solutions. My • name is Sophia Abdi Noor and I am a member of parliament from Kenya. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE I come from Northern Kenya, a region marginalized for many years by the government of Kenya and from a male dominated community that believes a women's place is the house and women cannot provide leadership to a community. I was fortunate to get education and become a schoolteacher and later founded a non-profit organization called Womankind whose mission is to empower marginalized women and girls so that they can realize their lifetime dreams of becoming responsible citizens of their communities. During the course of my over 20 years community work, I encountered the problems disadvantaged and underserved women and girls face every day. I was touched by the