Kenya is a country located in East Africa with 47 counties governed by elected governors. It covers a total of 580,367 sq. km and has a population of more than 47.6 million people with females accounting for 50.5% of the total population(Census, 2019). Kenya is bordered by Indian Ocean to the South East, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the north, and Somalia to the East.
The capital city of Kenya is Nairobi, other cities include Mombasa and Kisumu. The official languages are English and Swahili and the official currency is the Kenya shilling (KES).
Kenya’s male population based on the recently held census of the year 2019 is 23, 548,100 while the total female population is 24,014,700 (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), 2019). According to Central Intelligence Agency maternal mortality rates per 100,000 live births were 110 while infant mortality rates per 1,000 live births were 13.69 (CIA, 2015). Under five mortality rates for males per 1,000 live births were 77.7 and for females were 68 per 1,000 live births based on United Nation Gender statistics (United Nations, 2015).
In the last decade Kenya has made significant reforms in its governance structure and economic reforms that have contributed to sustained economic growth and social development. In 2014, Kenya was ranked as a lower middle-income country since its gross national income per capita (GNI) crossed a World Bank threshold of more than Sh99, 024.
It’s the economic, financial and transport hub of East Africa. Kenya’s economy is estimated to have expanded by 5.7% in 2019 compared to a growth of 5.8% in 2018 and the growth forecast for 2020 being estimated at 5.9% (Wankuru et al., 2019).
Kenya’s vision 2030 envisage; economic improvements with a 10% annual growth rate; social improvement in education, health and housing with a focus on women, youth and vulnerable communities and political progress by improving the rule of law, transparency, and accountability. This has not been without challenges as poverty remains high with inequalities in opportunities and outcomes between men and women(“Country Partnership Strategy,” 2015).
However, there has been progress in promoting better governance in the country with promulgation of a new Constitution on 27 August 2010 and first elections under this new Constitution on 4 March 2013; after which a new system of government, comprising a national government and devolved system of 47 counties, came into effect.
Devolution remains the biggest gain that brought in a new political and economic governance system. It is transformative and has promoted greater investments at the grassroots, strengthened accountability and public service delivery at local levels (Transparency International, 2014).
According to the UNESCO institute of statistics for the year 2009 academically male youth literacy rates for ages 15-24 was 83.21% while for female youths ages 15-24 was 81.63% (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015). Male adult literacy levels for ages 15 and above was 78.08% while for female adults aged 15 and above years was 66.86%.
Male enrollment in primary education wad 82.46% while for female was 83.49%. The male gross enrollment for secondary education was 63.16% while for female was 57.07% (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2015).
Male enrollment in tertiary education was 4.75% while for female was 3.34%. Despite Kenya making progress in achieving gender equality in education there still exists gaps in education with girls lagging behind boys (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, 2008).
The gender gap has reduced majorly in primary and secondary education enrollment though disparities persist in tertiary education with more male students and most of them dominating courses such as engineering, technology and finance thus positioning them for better lucrative opportunities (Profile of women's Social-economic Status in Kenya, 2008).
Economically the percentage of male over the age of 15 years who were employed in the year 2010 was 87% while female was 75% (United Nations Statistical Commission, 2010). According to the World Economic Forum of 2013, 46% of men were employed and worked in the formal sector while 39% of women worked in the formal sector. Similarly, women earned averagely 64% of what their male counterparts earned for performing similar jobs (World Economic Forum, 2013).
This indicates that a large proportion of women work in the informal sector. Statistics indicate that many women are likely to live in extreme poverty compared to men with the gender differences widest among those aged between 25 and 34 years. These disparities have been attributed to the disproportionate involvement of work with most women doing domestic and unpaid work.
This clearly indicates that they are less empowered and have less time to develop their proficiency of formal work. Moreover, literature indicates that women who are aged 25 to 34 years with children below the ages of five years are more likely to live in extreme poverty as compared to their female counterparts who do not have children (UN Women & UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2019).
The World Economic Forum of 2013 reported that 20% of females got married between the ages of 15 and 19 (World Economic Forum, 2013) while a report by Girls Not Brides indicated that 6% of girls got married before the age of 15 years (Girls not Brides, 2017). A report by the United Nation indicated that 41.2% of women were subjected to physical or sexual abuse by their intimate partners in their lifetime while 45.1% were subjected to physical or sexual abuse by either an intimate partner or a partner who was not intimate in their lifetime (UN Women, 2012). According to Amnesty International notes of 2010 indicated that a study by Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA-K) reported that gender-based violence in Kenya was a common phenomenon with many women affected compared to their male counterparts. This was ascribed to various factors such as poor legal and policy frameworks and the low societal status accorded to women (Amnesty International, 2010).
While certain key indicators of gender equality such as early marriage and female genital mutilation have significantly reduced indicating some improvement, the overall decline is still minimal.
Furthermore, less efforts have been put to address grass root causes of gender inequality such as discriminatory laws, social norms and attitudes, low autonomy and decision-making by women and girls on sexual and reproductive health issues and lack of political further worsen the situation and may make realization of sustainable development goal 5 that aims at reducing gender inequality an elusive goal (UN Women & UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2019).
UN Women reports on the effects of digital revolution on gender and states that despite some efforts and progress made in ensuring gender equality, women were not still fully benefiting from digitalization of finances. The reported global gender gap in financial inclusion is wide and this is even expected to escalate in developing countries.
In many developing countries such as Kenya the gap is estimated at 9%. Women are not empowered to take managerial and leadership positions of many economic sectors for example less than 2% of banks’ chief executive officers are women similar to other sectors such as the health sector.
Some of the key barriers identified as a hindrance towards women accessing and benefitting from digital finances include infrastructure where averagely women are 10% less likely to own a mobile phone and 26% less likely to use mobile internet as compared to men which is exacerbated by high costs of internet services. This often results in inequitable gains from technology use. Secondly, lack of empowerment of women in most low- and middle-income countries was identified as a challenge towards achieving equality. Lack of the basic knowledge and digital skills limits the use of technology by many women.
Furthermore, stringent laws in some countries discriminate against women preventing them from accessing property rights and obtaining official identification documents required to use such services. Lastly but not the least social norms were also identified as a barrier towards achieving equality. The use of technology to communicate further poses risks of gender-based violence for women. Online platforms and communities may propagate cyberbullying coupled with lack of policies to guard online communication. This has a detrimental impact on the digitalization of finances and women worldwide (UN Women, 2019).
As a result of these inequalities, gender equity has taken the center stage of many discussions resulting in the development and enactment of various legal and policy interventions that includes establishment of the National Commission on Gender and Development; introduction of the women’s enterprise fund; affirmative action in public appointments and the several articles of the constitution such as; article 81 which indicates that not more than two-thirds of the members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender, article 97 that reserves 47 seats for County Women Representatives, article 98 that indicates that the Senate consist of sixteen women members who shall be nominated by political parties and article 177 states that county assembly consist of the number of special seat members necessary to ensure that no more than two-thirds of the membership (The Government of Kenya, 2010). Though the policies and laws are in place, gender inequalities persist in financial access and financial decision making, division of labour, education and other areas.
Reducing gender inequalities at household level research workshops were conducted in informal settlements of Mathare North in Nairobi County, Kenya. There were four workshop days held over a period of two weeks. This all took place while Covid-19 was still going on, although it had slowed down at the time. In consideration of Covid-19, all necessary government set protocols were strictly adhered to. The participants of the workshops included ten couples and the criteria was that they were married between 2 and 15 years and have children.
We worked closely with Inua Kike, a local NGO that focuses on community development issues. Inua Kike, which means empowering women, was instrumental in helping us identify the participants and initially contacting them.
The workshops focused on the themes of leisure and responsibilities, household finances, family goals and family communication. Each workshop day centered around one theme and used the approach of engaging the participants on reflecting on the past, then thinking about their practice in the present time and reflect on what an ideal future would look like with regard to the theme that was being discussed on that particular workshop day. The participants were engaged and guided through the content of each study area, using joint sessions involving men and women as well as separately but all having similar activities.
These different approaches offered opportunities for open discussions in different settings where it was necessary. The discussions we more open when participants were placed in the same gender as some women indicated that they felt safer to talk freely in the absence of their spouses.
There were various observations during the workshops. Each theme had different depth of conversation and there were many instances of agreement as well as disagreements. There were also many instances where the participants shared their experiences that benefitted others in the group and where they asked each other for advice or suggestion about specific issues.
In response to the main themes, with regards to finance, they reported that income was inconsistent in many cases as most couples did not have formal employment and if they did, only one of the spouses had an income and it was almost always not enough to take care of their family needs. Some participants reported that men were the main financial providers for their families and women only assisted in providing for minor expenses.
Budgeting for available income was not common and the discussion on budgeting during the workshop was well received. The burden of one income was expressed by some men who wished their wives could help and contribute to their financial needs, as highlighted by one participant who said;
“Mine is to provide money for my family. The household tasks are performed by my wife and my sister. I wish that my wife could help me provide for my family’s financial needs. She would also prefer to have paid job to help her meet her personal financial needs. She feels that I should help in the household tasks, but I don’t have time for that if I am the only one working all day.”
On the discussion of children and ways in which household tasks are divided among gender, many of the participants felt that gender should not be a determinant in allocation of household chores among children. Most acknowledged that there are no gender specific chores and distribution of domestic duties should be done equally between boys and girls. This opinion was also agreed on when discussing education of children where majority of the participants expressed that both girls and boys should have equal rights to education because they are all equal and no preferential treatment should be given to either gender. This is how one participant expressed it.
“Children are equal regardless of the gender and you can’t tell which child will be successful in future. Both male and female children should be allowed to access education up to their desired level.”
Rest and recreation were also one of the workshop themes where participants examined the different ways in which rest and recreation took place among men and women. Men were reported to have more leisure time when compared to women. A few of the participants reported that they had equal resting and leisure time as their spouses. Watching television and spending time together with family was identified as the most common leisure activities among the participants. Communication in the family emerged as a favorite theme of discussion and it was highlighted in all the workshops as central to success in the relationships. The participants shared tips among themselves highlighting ways to have good conversations and discussed how to ensure that women take the lead in engaging their spouses.
Overall, the participants were pleased to be part of the workshop as it enabled them to explore subjects that are not normally easy to discuss in many of their households. They felt that it would have been great to have longer periods to discuss these issues and perhaps even continue over extended or regular periods such as monthly meetings and include other couples as they felt that this would be helpful to many people they know. The research team felt that the workshops were successful, and the issues identified in the process of this study will be extended into more elaborate outputs for the benefit of the community as well as research.
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