To bridge gender gap, Kenya must heighten business action plans

[Picture Courtesy ]

You are a consumer in need of stationery.

Two competing businesses provide exactly what you are looking for, at the same price.

One has no female employees, while 50 per cent of the other’s employees are women. From which business would you service your consumer needs?

You are the CEO of a flower export business. One of your suppliers from the counties provides no maternity leave, health insurance or daycare for its employees, almost all of whom are women. What implication, if any, does that have on your business relationship?

These are not riddles, but part of the consumer-employee-government-investor pressure points that have elevated gender equality to a key ingredient of long-term business success. 

Today, it is indisputable that closing gender gaps unlocks opportunities for increased profit, growth, and innovation.

Research clearly illustrates that companies with women in leadership positions can add to their net profit margin; women’s clinic and daycare centre reduces staff turnover; productivity increases when women in your supply chain are trained and capacitated; and targeting women’s consumer needs in the marketplace can catalyse your growth.

The 2018 Global Gender Gap Report estimates that on the current trajectory, the gender gap will close in 108 years globally, and in 135 years in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Women still take home just 1/10 of global income. The gender gap in employment has closed by only 0.6 percent since 1995, according to the ILO. Meanwhile, women hold just 15 per cent of board seats globally. The global statistics are stark.

Listed companies

Kenya scores above the global average on some key areas, while leading in others. For instance, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Kenya ranks at number 37 out of 149 countries in women economic participation and opportunity, with a particularly impressive score in labour force participation.

The obstacles, however, are as numerous as they are unconscionable. Kenya’s gender pay gap alone, WEF research shows, is disheartening: on average women get paid Sh55 for every Sh100 paid to men. Further, women account for only 26 per cent of management positions in publicly listed companies, and a paltry 21 per cent of board positions, according to a 2017 report by the Kenya Institute of Management.

Within Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which make up over 90 per cent of all business in Kenya, a dismal 32.2 per cent of the licensed businesses are women-owned. Progress, has been excruciatingly slow.

Yet businesses cannot afford complacency. Inaction on gender inequality – as in all other Sustainable Development Goals - is far more costly than action.

Companies with diverse work forces, research shows, are 22 per cent more productive, have 27 per cent higher profitability and 39 per cent higher customer satisfaction.

Empowerment Principles

Productivity per worker could rise by up to 40 per cent by eliminating all forms of discrimination against female workers and managers, according to the World Bank. And McKinsey estimates that if women participated in the economy on the same basis as men, it would add $12 trillion to the 2025 annual global GDP.

Gender equality is intrinsically linked to profitability. Encouragingly, a growing number of businesses are steadily taking concerted action to translate the business case into tangible actions that harness the innumerable benefits of gender equality.

Over 2100 businesses globally, for instance, have committed to and are implementing the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), a joint initiative of UN Women and the UN Global Compact that provides holistic guidance to businesses on women empowerment.

In Kenya, more than 20 businesses are actively participating in the initiative.

Over 140 additional Kenyan companies are applying a principles-based approach to Sustainable Development Goal 5, Gender Equality, having committed to align their strategies and operations to the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact.

There is a great and urgent need for more businesses to embrace gender diversity, if not for the innumerable socio-economic benefits to communities they operate in, then for the obvious benefits to companies’ bottom lines.

Kenya’s growth, it is safe to guarantee, will never be assured in the absence of robust business action on gender equality.

With numerous resources, guidance, tools and platforms available to help businesses actualise gender equality, there is simply no excuse for continued inaction.

 Ms Njino is Executive Director, UN Global Compact Network Kenya.

Business
Premium Financial hardships dampen Easter celebrations among Kenyans
Business
Premium Water PS Korir put on the spot over Sh14m dam land
Business
Premium Looming crisis as top lenders stare at Sh500b in bad loans
Business
Premium Ruto's food security hopes facing storm amid fake fertiliser scam