Unpaid but priceless: How Kenya can elevate care work
Paid and unpaid care workers deserve recognition and fair compensation.
Women spend an average of four hours and 38 minutes daily on unpaid care and domestic work, compared to just over 1 hour for men, according to the 2021 Kenya Time Use Survey by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
This imbalance robs women of opportunities for formal employment, personal development, and leisure, perpetuating a cycle of gender-based economic disparity. The unequal distribution of unpaid care work restricts women’s potential for financial independence and limits Kenya’s economic growth.
As the world prepares to mark the International Day of Care and Support on October 29, it is crucial to address an often-overlooked aspect of our economy: unpaid care work. Unpaid care work — ranging from childcare, elder care, cooking, cleaning, to managing households remains an invisible yet critical pillar of our society. In Kenya, care work disproportionately falls on women and girls, reinforcing gender inequalities and limiting women's full participation in economic and public life.
Care work is indispensable to the functioning of our economy, yet it remains invisible in GDP calculations and undervalued in national policies. If Kenya is to achieve its ambitious goals for gender equality, it must re-evaluate how it recognises, reduces, and redistributes care responsibilities.
What the data tells us
Unpaid care work not only limits women’s economic participation but also amplifies the gendered impacts of poverty. According to the 2022 National Care Needs Assessment women, especially in rural areas, lack access to basic services such as clean water, electricity, and affordable childcare. More time is spent on care work, keeping them out of paid jobs and educational opportunities.
Kenya is not alone in this crisis. Globally, women do 2.6 times more unpaid care work than men. In Kenya, women perform a staggering 4.6 times more care work than men. If we were to translate the time spent by women on unpaid care work into full-time workdays, the contribution of Kenyan women would be the equivalent of 196 full-time workdays per year compared to just 46 for men. This invisible labour sustains households, businesses, and the broader economy, but remains unvalued.
What Kenya is doing about it
The Government of Kenya has taken steps to address the care crisis. The State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action is working to finalise the Kenya National Care Policy, with technical support and coordination of care actors at the national level being provided by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and other credible institutions within the Women’s Economic Empowerment Community of Practice (WEE CoP)-including Oxfam and the Collaborative Action for Childcare.
The policy aims to ensure that unpaid care work is valued, recognised and integrated into the national accounting systems and economic policies. It also seeks to reduce the time burden of unpaid care work through investments in care-supportive services and infrastructure; redistribute care work more equitably between men and women, and between families and the state; reward care work with decent wages and work conditions; and ensure representation of care workers and providers in policy and decision-making spaces within the public and private sectors. Despite these policy advancements, many women, particularly in rural areas, lack access to affordable and quality childcare and elder care.
According to the Kenya Time Use Survey, women in counties like Marsabit spend as much as seven hours daily on unpaid care work — double the national average (KNBS,2021). This underlines the urgent need to roll out the policy across counties, particularly in underserved areas.
Prioritise investment
There is need for urgent action to finalise and enact and implement Kenya’s National Care Policy. The government, civil society, and private sector must work together to accelerate the socialisation and finalisation of the policy. This will require collaboration across sectors to ensure that care services are accessible, affordable, and high-quality.
The government must prioritize investment in services like childcare, elder care, and healthcare infrastructure, which are essential for reducing the care burden on women and girls. This investment will not only benefit women but also contribute to Kenya’s overall economic growth by increasing labour force participation and productivity.
Paid and unpaid care workers deserve recognition and fair compensation. The government should establish a legal framework to protect the rights of care workers, including domestic workers, and ensure they receive decent wages and social protections. Care work is real work and should be professionalised. Finally, the government should continue to collect and use time-use data to inform care policies at both national and county levels.
Mr Affifu, is the Gender and Women Economic Empowerment Specialist at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW)- Africa Regional Office.
