Gender pay gap leaves Kenyan women earning 32 per cent less
In Kenya, women in formal employment earn an average of 32 per cent less than men (taking home about Sh68 for every Sh100 earned by men), reflecting deep-seated economic and structural inequalities.
What you need to know:
- From unequal salaries to limited promotions, Kenyan women continue to face structural barriers that affect their earnings and career progression.
- Experts say pay transparency, family-friendly workplaces and stronger enforcement are needed to narrow Kenya’s persistent gender pay gap.
A 32-year-old software developer recently found out that a male colleague doing the same job, with less experience than her, was earning 20 per cent more. When she raised it with her boss, she was told he simply had better negotiation skills.
"I confronted my boss, but I was told he had better negotiation skills. I was so pissed off, but I could do nothing at that time," she said at a recent event.
Her experience is far from unusual. As the world marked International Equal Pay Day on September 18, the numbers show just how wide Kenya's gender pay gap still is.
Women in formal employment earn an average of 32 per cent less than men, taking home about Sh68 for every Sh100 a man earns. Data from UN Women puts the hourly gap at 17.7 per cent and the monthly gap at 31.3 per cent, a difference driven largely by women working fewer paid hours because of other responsibilities at home.
Women make up only about 38 per cent of formal sector workers. The vast majority of working women, roughly 87 per cent, are in the informal economy, where there are no standard contracts, no social protection and no fixed pay scales to fall back on.
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data shows women's earnings peak between the ages of 30 and 34, averaging Sh15,478 a month. Men's earnings, by contrast, peak much later, between 45 and 49, averaging Sh25,586 a month.
A study by the Federation of Kenya Employers found that women in formal employment take home only 68 per cent of what men in the same positions earn, despite holding the same qualifications and experience.
The Constitution guarantees equal pay for equal work, but enforcement remains weak, both in the private and public sectors. Women, particularly those in male-dominated fields such as finance and technology, continue to face limited opportunities for promotion and pay rises, and are often overlooked for leadership positions altogether.
Several factors keep driving the gap. Unpaid care work is one: women continue to shoulder the bulk of household chores and caregiving, leaving less time for overtime, promotions or demanding corporate travel. The glass ceiling is another, with women routinely blocked from senior leadership and executive roles. Motherhood adds to the burden too, with the so-called "child penalty" stalling careers as workplaces remain slow to introduce family-friendly policies or flexible working arrangements.
Judy Njino, executive director of Global Compact Network Kenya, has been pushing the private sector to close the gap. She argues that companies need to adopt family-friendly policies such as flexible working arrangements, parental reintegration programmes and childcare support, and is challenging corporate CEOs to sign the gender statement drawn up by the Africa Business Leaders Coalition to formalise their commitment to fighting pay disparity.
Prof Grace Wamue-Ngare, director of the Centre for Gender Equity at Kenyatta University, sees the pay gap as a symptom of corporate stratification. The real issue, she says, is not individual salaries but how systematically women are excluded from the upper tiers of corporate job structures.
Mercy Mwende, a Nguvu Change leader, has been campaigning for pay transparency. She argues that pay discrimination persists because companies keep their salary scales hidden, meaning many women have no way of knowing they are being underpaid for doing the same work as their male colleagues.
