State commits to close gender pay gap

The GenderGap.Africa, an online tool designed to calculate gender gap, says a man in Kenya makes on average $118 (approximately Sh11,800) more than a woman per month, this being the 17th largest gap in Africa.

Another recent survey on the best 100 companies to work for by BrighterMonday revealed that there were 10 per cent more men in high salary brackets than women. 

It is as a result of these glaring gaps that pressure has been mounting on the government to put in place measures to bridge it.

The pressure seems to be paying off if announcement by Public Service and Gender Cabinet Secretary Professor Margret Kobia is anything to go by.

Three solutions

Prof Kobia, who launched the Report on Gender in Employment and Labour Market in Kenya: Analysis of Barriers and Opportunities for Young Women and Men said the government is now committed to bridge the gender pay gap.

The CS has proposed three solutions to close the gender pay gap in employment, which include developing and implementing effective gender-responsive national employment policies to address structural barriers that drive the gender gap in employment.

She added that the ministry will develop and implement specific interventions that address barriers at the individual level.

Education and skills

“The ministry will also increase young women’s access to employment and entrepreneurship opportunities which include access to education and skills; access to family planning; access to finance and women role models,” said Prof Kobia.

The CS said despite the young women in Kenya almost being as equally economically active as young men, they are more likely to be unemployed or under-employed.

Additionally, when employed, the report noted that young women are more likely to be in informal sectors and are paid less than their male pears.

Young men

“The findings of this report present us with an opportunity to critically reflect on the social-cultural drivers and gender expectations that lead to young women having lower level and entrepreneur’s opportunities than young men,” said the CS.

The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 by the World Economic Forum indicates that the gender gap, in terms of economic participation, will take 257 years to close. This is compared to 202 years in the 2019 report.

The report indicates that although education attainment as well as health and survival enjoy much closer to parity (96.1 per cent and 95.7 per cent respectively), economic participation and opportunity still remains an important area of concern.

Gender parity

“This is the only dimension where progress has regressed and a deteriorating situation forcing gender parity to a lowly 57.8 per cent, which in time represents a massive 257 years before gender parity can be achieved,” the report says.

The report benchmarked 153 countries on their progress towards gender parity in four dimensions namely economic participation and opportunity; educational attainment; health and survival; and political empowerment.

Locally, a study conducted by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in 2018 revealed that women occupy only a third in formal employment.

Labour market

The study indicated that 880,000 women worked in the formal sector compared to 1.68 million men in 2016, a 65.6 per cent difference.

Women with wage employment in agriculture stood at 112,000 compared to 225,000 men while those in wage employment in manufacturing stood at 49,000 and 252,000 for women and men respectively.

Women in wage employment in wholesale sectors stood at 54,000 compared to 186,000 men. Those in wage employment in public administration stood at 83,000 and 148,000 for women and men respectively.

Globally, only 55 per cent of women (aged 15-64) are engaged in the labour market as opposed to 78 per cent of men.