Invest in women for a healthier society and a thriving economy

Women in Marigat, Baringo County, joyfully sing while clutching various types of indigenous seeds as they mark International Women's Day on March 8, 2024. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

The changing faces of gender inequality and the many crises the world is facing perilously mask the faultline of expanding gender inequality and disempowerment of women globally.

The existential crises in the wake of climate change, the consequences of Covid-19, the high costs of living, and the escalation of geopolitical conflicts, poverty, and diseases are affecting men and women although women more disproportionately.

Despite these universal problems, we must not lose focus on the ball. The single most perilous existential crisis for the world today is gender inequality. Gender inequality for women means not able to access economic, political, social, and cultural opportunities that men appear to get automatically.

They include employment and appointment opportunities, and opportunities to sit at the decision and policy-making tables. This lack of access means women are not fairly and equitably represented and consequently inadequate investment in women's empowerment and gender equality.

The government and politicians spotlight a few educated and privileged women occupying positions of power in various public service and private sectors to make the point that there are women in these spaces. The issue is not their presence in those spaces, it is about their numbers, value and impacts.

The Constitution recognises the importance of gender equality and equity and decrees that no more than one-third of either gender should occupy elective and appointive positions. This has been long ignored and even peppered with judicial approval that it should be realised progressively. Why should it?

Is it that there are not enough women to realise gender parity in Kenya? The President promised women during his campaigns that he would personally ensure his Cabinet would have 50 per cent of women and other public appointments would follow suit. This promise has not been honoured.

On Thursday, 7th March 2024, the eve of International Women's Day (IWD), he made yet another even harder-to-achieve promise, that if the presidential candidate is a man, the running mate would be a woman and vice versa. This is confounding as it is unbelievable because the president and his male deputy are in the second year of their first term. Is the president telling us he and his current deputy will not defend their positions in 2027 or that he plans to sacrifice either himself or his deputy for a woman?

Shouldn't these kinds of promises and public declarations worry and concern women and Kenyans?

This year's IWD theme "Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress," is an apt clarion call that if taken seriously can help Kenya drastically bridge gender gaps, reduce poverty, and accelerate not just progress but ensure we achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), our Vision 2030 and BETA by 2030.

According to UN Women, by investing in women, we can spark change and speed the transition towards a healthier, safer, and more equal world for all. It says that an additional $360 billion is needed per year to achieve gender equality globally, we can begin small.

Kenyan women require only catalytic facilitation and regular and predictable investment to spur progress as they are already fully engaged in all sectors of our society. Given half of the yearly budget of the presidency women can ensure food security and a healthy nation in less than 10 years!

Imagine if we close gender gaps by hiring more women, even one-third, we could boost our GDP per capita by 20 per cent or more, and by expanding services with decent jobs for women, ensure not just gender equality and parity but help Kenya become self-sustaining and dependent for almost everything. The monetary value of women's unpaid care work globally according to UN Women, is at least US$10.8 trillion three times the size of the world's tech industry. Investing in the caregiving services system, the nurturing and caring for the family, the sick, and the infirm, would give women more time to focus on their interests, create jobs in the care sector, and increase access to care services for those who need them.

Closing existing gaps in care services and expanding decent work programmes for women would create an estimated 300 million jobs by 2035 globally and in Kenya, these jobs would resolve our unemployment crisis for the youth and accelerate sustainable development. Gender equality and equity are keys to our current economic, social, political, and cultural crises.