Gloria Orwoba

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Gloria Orwoba (born 25 May 1986) is a Kenyan politician with the United Democratic Alliance (UDA). Since 2022 she has been a nominated Senator representing women in the Kenyan Senate.

Early life and education
Orwoba was born in Nairobi and raised by a single father from Kisii County, along with her three sisters. Her father was a civil servant and they grew up near the Yaya Centre in Hurlingham. She went to St. George's Girls' Secondary School in Kilimani, earned a diploma in architecture from the University of Nairobi, and later completed a degree in social work. She is currently pursuing a degree in leadership and management.

Work abroad and early politics
In 2015 she moved with her family to Sweden and later managed a Facebook data centre in Denmark. In 2017 she briefly returned to Kenya to run for Kisii County Executive for the Youth but did not win. In 2019 she moved back to Kenya and aimed to run for the Bobasi constituency in Kisii County as a UDA candidate, but lost the primary to a male candidate whom she later accused of corruption. She worked as a community worker and started the Uji Ya Glo Nutrition programme, providing a cup of porridge and two slices of bread each school day to thirteen primary schools in Bobasi.

Senate work and period poverty activism
As a UDA member, Orwoba supported William Ruto in the 2022 presidential election and was chosen as a nominated Senator representing women in the Senate. In the Senate she has fought for women’s rights and highlighted period poverty. She has said patriarchal power and lack of knowledge among some men about menstruation worsen the issue, pointing to the fact that condoms are free while tampons can be expensive. The 2019 death of 14-year-old Jackline Chepngeno, who died after being shamed for her period, inspired her to become a period poverty activist.

In 2023 she tabled a motion asking the Ministry to provide free sanitary products in all schools and to make sure schools have proper equipment to dispose of feminine hygiene products.

The 2023 dress-code incident
On 14 February 2023 she wore white trousers that were stained red at the groin during a plenary session. Some colleagues questioned whether it violated the Senate dress code. The Speaker asked her to leave to change clothes. The event drew mixed reactions: some called it indecent, others praised it as bold activism. The Speaker explained it was a chance to change clothes, not a ruling on menstruation. Orwoba said it was an accident used to highlight period poverty and stigma. She later visited a Nairobi school to distribute period products and said she faced online harassment. A billboard later appeared in Nairobi with the message “Anything you can do, I can do bleeding.” Orwoba has three children.