• World Economic Forum report shows gap between men and women is shrinking
• Still, women have fewer economic opportunities and earn much less than men
Kenya made the third-best improvement in closing the gender gap in the world last year, after Vanuatu and Saudi Arabia.
Gender gap refers to the differences between women and men in terms of their economic participation, access, rights, remuneration or benefits.
Speaking at a World Population Day event in Nairobi yesterday, Dr Rose Oronje said this was the third-best improvement that year.
Oronje heads the African Institute of Development Policy (Afidep) in Kenya.
The results are from the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report of 2022.
They ranked Kenya 57th out of 146 countries globally with a 72.9 per cent gender gap index in 2022 up from 69.2 per cent in 2021.
Oronje said the recently released Kenya Health and Demographic Survey also shows improvements in gender equality indicators.
These include a reduction in teenage pregnancy from 18 per cent in 2014 to 15 per cent in 2022.
She said the country still has grounds to cover because the KDHS also showed 25 per cent of women get married by age 18.
“This is because women have fewer economic opportunities and earn much less than men,” she said.
“We also know that women carry the burden of care in our economy, and they form the majority of those in the informal economy.”
Dr Oronje suggested that raising the age of marriage for girls and delaying girls in school would lower the incidence of teenage pregnancy.
For example, she said, teenage pregnancy among girls without education increased from 34 per cent to about 38 per cent between 2014 and 2022, yet it decreased among girls with primary (24 per cent to 20 per cent) and secondary plus education (seven per cent to five per cent).
Leading in teenage pregnancy is the semi-arid county of Turkana county, which has a teenage pregnancy rate of 50 per cent compared to 8.4 per cent in Nairobi.
The percentage of women aged 15–24 who had sexual intercourse before age 15 decreases with an increase in the level of education.
This went from 19 per cent among those with no education to two per cent among those with more than secondary education.
Marie Stopes Kenya country director Joan Oracha urged the government to invest in the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and young girls in Kenya.
She said this would help to achieve gender equality and address the population dynamics in Kenya.
"It will help us accelerate the achievement of the sustainable development goal 5 on gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls," she said.
Orocha said the government should first ensure there is age-appropriate comprehensive sexual education to mitigate against early teenage pregnancies and Female Genital Mutilation.
She called for increased access to integrated and comprehensive family planning services.
"These include youth-friendly services," she said.
Orocha said family planning commodities should be available in all government health facilities.
"When I speak about family planning commodities, this is something I am very passionate about. Because when we say choice, choice should be choice," she said.
Planning PS James Muhati said the World Population Day celebrations came at an opportune time, when the National Bureau of Statistics just released a report on Kenya's Demographic Health survey.
"Kenya is committed to eliminating teenage pregnancies, new adolescent and youth HIV infections and harmful practices, such as child marriages and FGM," he said.