This learning document from SNV describes the outcomes of a gender analysis of women’s economic empowerment in Kenya. The analysis was carried out under the ‘Enhancing Opportunities for Women’s Enterprises’ (EOWE) programme, which is being implemented in Kenya and Vietnam and funded by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the ‘Funding Leadership Opportunities for Women’ (FLOW) framework.

The analysis aims to establish: the socio-economic, cultural, religious and legal factors that underlie differential gender position on economic development; the consequences of the differential gender position on women’s access to economic opportunities, knowledge and markets; and the opportunities and constraints that affect women’s effective participation in businesses, producer organizations or cooperatives, markets, leadership.

Some of the key findings of the analysis were: women have a larger workload than men; women do not usually control productive assets; women involved in group enterprises do control assets and income, however the control and access to resources is affected by culture, literacy and location. In addition, men tend to advise women on what economic activities to engage in and men make most of the decisions on use of assets and incomes in households. Recommendations from the programme were, among others: reduce women’s time spent on domestic chores; develop mentors for women entrepreneurs; invest in group enterprises to bring credit within reach of women; improve access to markets for women; encourage male engagement in women’s empowerment; and utilize technology and innovative methods to improve women’s access to information on pricing and markets.