Global Compact Network in Kenya has launched a new initiative known as Target Gender Equality to mobilize and support companies set and meet corporate targets for women’s representation and leadership in business.
The programme builds on the United Nations Global Compact's work in developing and promoting the Women's Empowerment Principles.
The initiative is done through helping participating companies set concrete targets and take action to advance women’s leadership in their organizations, starting with the Board and Executive Management levels.
Speaking during the launch, CEO and Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Lise Kingo said the economic gender gap is widening and will now take 257 years to close.
“Business must help reverse this trend and take bold action to advance gender equality. This is the moment to ensure that targets on women's participation are included as part of balanced scorecards and corporate strategies in all companies.”Kingo said.
Participating companies in Kenya will benefit through facilitated performance analysis, capacity building workshops, peer-to-peer learning and opportunities to engage in multi-stakeholder dialogue at the country-level.
In the private sector, the proportion of leadership positions held by women in Kenya stands at 22 per cent.
Only four in 62 of chief executive officers of companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange are women and only three, or five percent, of these firms have women as chair of their boards of directors, a recent report dubbed according to the Gender Equality in the workplace report by NSE.
However, the proportion of women on the boards in Kenya continues to improve – increasing slightly since 2017 and almost doubling since 2012.
Target Gender Equality will drive business action in support of sustainable development goal 5.5, which calls for women’s full participation and equal opportunities for leadership in economic life, by 2030.
The Target Gender Equality initiative will be rolled out in twenty countries this year.
