Female MPs have walked out of Kenya's parliament in solidarity with a colleague who was ordered to leave because she had taken her baby.

Zuleika Hassan said she had brought her five-month-old baby with her to work because of a domestic emergency and that parliament didn't have a creche.

According to the house rules, "strangers" are not allowed into the chamber, children included.

A Kenyan MP has been arrested for allegedly slapping a female colleague because she did not allocate money to his constituency.

Rashid Kassim is accused of slapping Fatuma Gedi, who sits on the budget committee, in the capital Nairobi.

A photo of Ms Gedi crying with blood in her mouth after the alleged assault has been shared widely on Twitter.

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Low turnout scuppered a vote guaranteeing Kenyan women more seats in parliament on Wednesday, with campaigners saying it was “a dark day” for citizens in the east African nation.

The bill would have reserved one in three seats for women but not enough politicians showed up to vote on the controversial issue, with campaigners citing chauvinism.

The women-led movement of GROOTS Kenya is supporting women candidates – including by providing them with bodyguards and volunteer support in the form of Humphrey Muriuki Ngaine and his ‘male champions’. Hannah O’Neill and Louise Donovan report from Kiambu County.

Women in Africa are not generally found in leadership positions. Research shows that women are not perceived to have the skills, knowledge or social status needed to bring about meaningful change in post-conflict environments.