Across the globe, women remain at a significant disadvantage in terms of employment, with an estimated 606 million working-age women around the world considering themselves unavailable for work, compared to 41 million men.

A Care Economy refers to a system that encompasses care work that is both paid and unpaid, with roles of workers that are involved in: education, childhood care and domestic work, amongst several other roles. According to the Gates Foundation, women overwhelmingly bear the brunt of caring for children and other family members, spending nearly three times more hours on unpaid care work than men do. Strengthening the care economy is of vital importance for career independence for women in Kenya.

Kenya’s Fourth Medium Term Plan

Kenya’s Fourth Medium Term plan from 2023 to 2027 calls for addressing unpaid care and domestic work. This plan has seen success. For instance, Kenya has recently marked a milestone in Care Reform. Lumos Kenya hosted a Care Reform Reflection and Learning Session, which saw government officials and child practitioners from across the country. The Principal Secretary for the State Department for Children Services, CPA Carren Agengo, demonstrated the success made so far, stating there had been training of thousands of social workers and caregivers, who have been developing child protection case management tools and scaling up family-based care interventions. Lumos summarised the session as follows: detailing how care reform has moved from policy to practice.

Legal Advocacy as a Tool Against Gender Inequality

The story of Dr Stellah Bosire, a physician, human rights activist and author at the intersection of women’s health and economic power, demonstrates the importance of legal advocacy as a tool against gender inequality. Her work helps boost career independence for women. For example, according to The Gates Foundation, Dr Bosire developed a circular approach, where she held weekly discussions on health and nutrition, and community dialogues to challenge restrictive gender norms.

HerConomy

Dr Bosire introduced the HerConomy initiative, which connects communities of women with diverse global opportunities that focus on promoting career advancement, entrepreneurship and financial growth. Her story demonstrates great progress, for instance, many women in the program have had the opportunity to engage in multiple income-generating activities such as running kiosks, making soap and selling juice. The community has seen an increase in the scaling of business, with one woman now owning a shoe company.

Dr Bosire told the Gates Foundation: “It’s about giving women ownership, independence, and the tools to build better futures for themselves and their families, while impacting their health.” The Gades Foundation has noted that she is fundraising to launch Kenya’s first women-led Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisation, where members will be able to borrow money to invest in businesses and education.

Strengthening the Care Economy and continuing to invest and optimise legal advocacy can both help combat gender inequality in the workforce. The story of Dr Bosire and her fundraising work to increase financial security and independence for female-led businesses is inspirational and exciting, marking a step towards the increasing number of women in working roles and boosting career independence for women in Kenya.

– Joe Langley

Joe is based in Edinburgh, Scotland and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr