- Women are overrepresented in less secure jobs such as informal, temporary, or part-time work.
- This is partly because they want more flexible work options, and partly because they are locked out of higher-status careers.
Image: WILFRED NYANGARESI
The 2010 Constitution enshrined a binding constitutional commitment for gender parity and affirmative action both for women and men. It elevated voices, protection and empowerment of women and youth.
Linda Katiba stands not only for gender parity but also for the support and development of empowering women in all sectors of our economy. It is reinforcing the charge that when humanity harnesses the force of and truly empowers women, it has an exponentially positive effect on any society.
Full gender equality and women’s empowerment is at the very heart of Linda Katiba movement. Women form the bedrock of the country’s informal sector and agrarian rural economy of this country. Women are wielding creativity and entrepreneurial thinking in so many ways. On all fronts, there is a rising tide for empowered, entrepreneurial women.
Despite the increased number of women in paid employment, women remain disproportionately represented in vulnerable employment and occupy crucial space in the informal sector economy
Kenya ranks the 109 out of 153 countries in the 2020 Global Gender Gap rankings of the World Economic Forum. In the rankings of the United Nations Development Programme, using the Gender Inequality Index, Kenya ranks the 137 out of 189 countries ranked from best to poorest performers.
Further, according to the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census, women comprise 50.5 per cent of the total 10 population in the country. Nevertheless, their representation across wellbeing indicators are not equal to men. To begin with, women are more likely to be poor than men.
The findings of the latest Kenya National Bureau of Statistics and Unicef 2020 Comprehensive Poverty Analysis report shows that 65 per cent of women aged 35-59 years are multidimensionally poor compared to 56 per cent of their male counterparts.
The KNBS Economic Survey 2019 data shows that women are underrepresented in wage employment comprising slightly above a third (37 per cent). Similarly, they are underrepresented inmost sectors of formal employment. In addition, they are 13 overrepresented in vulnerable employment, 68 per cent compared to 39 per cent of men.
Women suffer from what can be called “time poverty”. Women carry a disproportionate burden of unpaid care work, which deprives them of the time needed for jobs and livelihoods, education and skills training and participating in public life.
Non-income issues, including lack of access to education and training, healthcare and water and sanitation often compound women’s poverty and economic exclusion. Inequalities in access to reproductive health care are stark.
Determined action at county and national levels is needed to develop and implement laws and policies which integrate the empowerment of women with the drive for sustainable development. No country can reach its full potential without doing that.
Country is facing momentous challenges. We will need all the economic productivity, dynamism and ingenuity we can get in the years ahead.
A key part of the solution is unlocking and unleashing the economic power of women. It is bringing the country’s largest excluded group into the economic and political power fold.
When we speak of women’s economic empowerment, we speak of three interlinked dimensions namely: Do all women have equal access to ownership of and control over land, property, productive assets and resources?
Do all women enjoy economic autonomy or full ability to freely assert their independence and make their life and career choices? Lastly, do all women have equal and full opportunity to exercise their agency, voice, participation and leadership in decision making in all economic areas in public and private sectors, in their communities and their homes?
Women everywhere face barriers to flourishing and achieving their potential. Gender gaps in labor force participation exist all over. When women do participate, they tend to be stuck in low-paying, low-status jobs.
Women are overrepresented in less secure jobs such as informal, temporary, or part-time work. This is partly because they want more flexible work options, and partly because they are locked out of higher-status careers.
Women are locked out of leadership positions both public and private sectors, where gender seems to matter more than ability. We need to do more to empower women and girls in every way so that they realise their own potential and, in turn, take full advantage of women power and the vast reservoir of capabilities they represent.
Our economy is not using its productive resources very effectively. It is tossing away economic growth power at a time when it cannot afford such wanton waste.
The benefits of greater inclusion are clear not just for women, but for all of us. Women are the ultimate agents of aggregate demand, accounting for 70 per cent of consumer spending. So if we want economic productivity and inclusivity, let us put women in the driver’s seat. There is big ripple effect in income per capita when we raise the women labour force participation in our economy.
We have to change the economic policies, changing laws and institutions, and changing attitudes and culture. We must adopt a more gender-inclusive economy. We know the benefit this yields. If we want a strong and bright economic future, then we need strong and bright women to help drive it. That means all strands of society need to embrace inclusion.
Unlocking women power embodies all the capabilities, resourcefulness and knowledge for not only business but for the economic rejuvenation.
It is enabling empowered women to work equally in all the productive sectors. This includes agriculture, manufacturing, services and technology sectors; in the higher echelons and the horizontal and vertical aspects of value and supply chains; in trade and investment networks; in finance, not only micro-finance but also in entrepreneurship
Women’s economic empowerment is the right and smart investment to reap the full harvest of gender equality and women’s empowerment force multiplier which is—today and forever—the most promising, untapped and highest return area of investment. It is an indispensable one for poverty eradication, for inclusive, sustained and rapid economic growth, for reducing inequality and leaving no one behind and for the sustainable development
Empowering women economically, fully deploying their productive energies and enhancing their purchasing power is potentially the biggest emerging market.
For universal and quality public service provision, for vibrant enterprises and businesses and for technology and innovation leaps, women are an essential, talent pool that can bring something special with value added to economy. There is also a major part of the young women demographic dividend that we are in a privileged position to reap.
This is pivotal political moment for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Full gender parity in decision making bodies is absolutely essential. This entails dismantling barriers to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The country does not need to amend the constitution to facilitate women’s meaningful contributions to the communities they live in. This means enhancing women’s political, social, economic and financial inclusion.
It is important that women can participate in the decisions which affect their lives, and that the barriers and discrimination which stand in the way of women are removed. Women will and must sit at the helm of economic governance system.
Linda Katiba is robustly demanding and pushing for achieving irreversible progress towards gender equality. This entails dismantling barriers to gender equality and women’s empowerment. The movement stands for equal opportunity and equity for all.
Writers are part of Linda Katiba co-conveners