•The Women Empowerment Index finds that women who marry educated men are more empowered, while those married to illiterate men are suppressed.
•Gender CS Margaret Kobia says gender equality is not a zero sum game where women gain and men lose.
Image: FILE
If you think about it, marriage is a union between two or more equal partners.
However, a new government report indictes married women in Kenya are getting a raw deal.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics says singles are the most empowered women in the country.
KNBS described empowerment largely as the ability to make choices.
In its inaugural index on women empowerment, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics compares single women, those in monogamous and polygamous marriages and widows.
The rate of empowerment is highest among unmarried women (37 per cent), but drops to 27 per cent when they tie the knot or begin cohabiting with a man.
Divorced women also fare badly at 27 per cent.
In polygamous marriages, only 16 per cent of women are considered empowered.
The rate is lowest among widows at 12 per cent.
However, the Women Empowerment Index finds that women who marry educated men are more empowered, while those married to illiterate men are suppressed.
"Incidence of women's empowerment ranges from 10 per cent among households where the head has not completed any formal education to 62 per cent, where the head has completed high education," the index shows.
It was produced by KNBS, Unicef, UN Women and the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis.
Gender Cabinet Secretary Margaret Kobia said Kenya's gender equality index was among the lowest in the world.
She noted that gender equality is not a zero sum game where women gain and men lose.
"Kenya is ranked number 109 out of 153 countries in gender equality, according to United Nations ranking," Kobia said during the report's launch on Monday.
She said the government would use the KNBS index to empower women.
"Until today, Kenya lacked a national tool to ensure inclusivity and women's empowerment," she said.
The 2019 population census shows Kenya has more women (24 million) than men (23 million).
However, in employment they earn less than men and do more unpaid house chores, according to other reports.
The KNBS index shows women in urban areas are nearly twice as likely to be empowered compared to those in the rural areas, with incidence rates of 40 and 22 per cent respectively.
Rich women are more empowered at 53 per cent, while only six per cent belonging to the poorest quintile are empowered.
Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa, who attended the online launch, said the situation is unacceptable.
"Kenya, we are economic giants in the region but when it comes to gender matters, we are dwarfs," he said.
Unicef Kenya representative Maniza Zaman urged county governments to make their budgets gender responsive.
"Counties may realise that there is a mismatch – and that budgets need to be spent differently to make a real difference for children, the young people and women," she said.
The report analysed the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey looking at five domains for married women. These are attitudes toward wife-beating, income, household decision-making, control over sexual relations, and economic domain.
For single women and widows, researchers analysed economic, human and social resources, and attitudes towards wife-beating.
The index considers a woman empowered if she is empowered in at least 80 per cent of the total weighted indicators of empowerment.
Edited by Henry Makori