The hidden GDP: Women’s unpaid care work crippling Kenyan economy
A woman works from home. When women work from home, their productivity is compromised by additional workload of unpaid care.
What you need to know:
- A new KNBS report reveals that Kenyan women perform unpaid care and domestic work worth Sh237.8 billion, nearly seven times more than men.
- Women spend over 25.8 billion hours annually on household chores and caregiving, exposing the country’s deep-rooted gender disparities in unpaid labour.
- From cooking and cleaning to childcare and eldercare, women contribute billions of unpaid hours that keep homes and the economy running.
Kenyan women perform unpaid caregiving and domestic work valued at Sh237.8 billion, compared to Sh31.8 billion by men, a new report has revealed. The findings highlight a stark gender gap in the invisible labour that sustains households and communities across the country.
According to the Economic Value of Unpaid Domestic and Care Work in Kenya report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and the State Department of Gender, if this work were paid, a woman aged 15 years and above would have earned Sh118,845 in 2021, while a man of the same age would have earned Sh22,676.
Heavier load
The report shows that women contributed 25.8 billion hours of unpaid domestic and care work in 2021, compared to 4.8 billion hours by men. The bulk of this time went into meal preparation, where women spent 14.7 billion hours and men 2.2 billion hours.
The second most time-consuming task was care and maintenance of textiles and footwear, with women logging four billion hours and men 756.7 million hours. Women also spent nearly 10 times more hours on childcare—three billion hours compared to men’s 310 million.
Men, however, were more engaged in household maintenance and repairs (158.2 million hours) and household management, such as bill payments, at 30.4 million hours.
Unpaid domestic work, which includes cleaning, laundry, cooking, and general household management, accounted for 88 per cent of all unpaid work, with women contributing 22.6 billion hours compared to 4.4 billion by men.
Among paid domestic workers, the report notes a reversal—women earned an average of Sh11,526, higher than men’s Sh8,333.
Household services
Unpaid care work, including childcare, eldercare, and care for non-dependent adults, totalled 3.2 billion hours for women and 434 million hours for men. Men, however, spent more time on pet care (61.1 per cent) than women (38.9 per cent).
Under nutrition services, such as meal preparation and food management, unpaid labour accounted for the largest share of household work—54 per cent or 16.8 billion hours. Women contributed 14.6 billion of these hours, representing more than half of all unpaid work performed by women.
Women accounted for 85.7 per cent of meal and snack preparation, while men contributed 14.3 per cent. Similarly, women undertook 91.6 per cent of cleaning after food preparation.
In housing services, women dominated routine indoor cleaning (88.6 per cent), while men led in upkeep of indoor and outdoor plants (85.2 per cent), do-it-yourself home improvements (61 per cent) and vehicle maintenance (98.9 per cent).
Invisible economy
KNBS Board Chairperson Daniel Mwirigi M’Amanja said the valuation of unpaid care work assigns a monetary worth to invisible labour that keeps families and economies functioning.
“The report exposes the disproportionate burden of unpaid domestic and care work carried by women. These disparities contribute to economic exclusion and limited labour market participation. The findings should drive programmes and policies to correct this imbalance,” Dr M’Amanja said.
Antonia N’Gabala Sodonon, the UN Women Representative in Kenya, said unpaid and underpaid care work are not social side issues but key economic drivers. “Every hour a woman spends in unpaid care is an hour lost to income generation or education. Reducing and redistributing unpaid care work frees women’s time for entrepreneurship and employment,” she said.
She added that investing in care infrastructure—childcare, eldercare, and disability care—can create new job opportunities for women and youth while boosting economic productivity.
KNBS Director General Macdonald Obudho expressed hope that the report would inform public debate and shape future policy interventions.
The 2021 Kenya Time Use Survey found that women spend an average of 4 hours 30 minutes daily on unpaid care work, compared to 54 minutes for men. This disparity, gender experts warn, results in “time poverty” that limits women’s access to education, employment, and leadership.
According to the 2022 National Care Needs Assessment, the care economy contributes about 6.8 per cent of Kenya’s GDP, with women representing 40 per cent of wage employment in care-related sectors compared to 24 per cent for men.
Globally, the International Labour Organisation estimates that women and girls perform 76 per cent of unpaid care work, valued at nearly $11 trillion—equivalent to nine per cent of global GDP.
