Launch of the Women’s Empowerment Report and the Comprehensive Poverty Report

The Ministry of Public Service and Gender in partnership with UN Women, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, UNICEF and UNDP, on Monday 10th August, virtually launched the Women’s Empowerment Report and the Comprehensive Poverty Report.

Cabinet Secretary, Prof. Margaret Kobia who attended the virtual launch commended the progress that has been made in achieving gender equality and women empowerment through the development of policies and legislative frameworks. She noted that attaining gender equality is a slow process that includes changing cultural practices and value systems. “It takes a lot more than changes in law or policy to incorporate adjustments at the individual, family, community and even at national levels,” she said.

Prof. Kobia acknowledged that despite the innumerable interventions geared towards achieving gender equality and empowerment of women, Kenya still lags behind many countries even within Sub-Sahara Africa. “According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report (GGGR), 2020, Kenya is ranked 109 out of the 153 countries scoring an index of 0.671,” she said.

WEI provides a comprehensive and systematic measure for women and girl’s empowerment that will provide meaningful opportunities for positive change and enable women and girls to access and take control of productive assets. It will facilitate financial inclusion for women and girls and enable them to build sustainable livelihoods. The indices will provide sound gender statistics, representing a turning point in the women’s empowerment agenda in Kenya.

The Ministry will focus on realising the recommendations of the report through the following:

1. Improved quality, availability and representativeness of data;
2. Improved advocacy on the use of the Women’s Empowerment Index to inform laws, policies and resources allocation towards gender equality and women’s empowerment;
3. Enhancing coordination of all relevant stakeholders and partners to increase demand and utilization of gender statistics; and
4. Strengthening timeliness for gender data production and its integration in reporting on achievements.

The Comprehensive Poverty Report was also launched during the virtual exercise. This report measured multidimensional poverty among children, youths, adult women and men, and the elderly in Kenya; studied the relationship between monetary and multidimensional poverty; and identified factors associated with poverty among children, youths and women. The report also identified the most vulnerable population groups that are both multidimensional and monetary poor, and shed light into geographical inequalities with realisation of rights and fulfillment of basic needs.

The virtual event was attended by Hon. (Amb.) Ukur Yatani, Cabinet Secretary, the National Treasury and Planning; Hon. Eugene Wamalwa, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Devolution and ASALS; H.E. (Hon.) Wycliffe Ambetsa Oparanya, Chairman Council of Governors; Prof. Colleta A. Suda, Principal Secretary, State Department for Gender; Mr. Saitoti Torome; Principal Secretary, State Department for Planning, Dr. Siddharth Chatterjee, United Nations Resident Coordinator; Ms. Mniza Zaman, UNICEF Representative; and Ms. Anna Mutavati, UN Women Representative.