Gender inequality in rural Kenya: Evidence from murang' a district in central Kenya

Abstract

This paper gives a detailed account of gender inequality in a rural setting. Reasons behind this difference have been cited as poor definition of property rights regarding customary laws of inheritance of property and land tenure, which have been found to favour male adults. This has given male heads the rights to make decisions regarding what is produced, the mode of production, marketing and sharing of the returns ... Male heads favour commercialization since this at times gives high returns although paid in lump sum. Female's household members have been allocated marginal lands that are unsuitable for agriculture, where they use primitive tools, since they have no access to agricultural tools and credit facilities. All this has led to reduction in food supply, which, depend more on women's household income if any, or produce from farms. The situation is worsened when male heads use income from commercialized farms on themselves rather than in purchasing food for the household. Gender inequality has also been cited in the supply of labour force whereby a larger proportion of women work in commercial agriculture more than men. Cross section survey through a questionnaire was conducted to 110 households. A Tobit model was used which gave significant results in most of the variables under consideration. It was concluded that there is indeed prevalence of gender inequality in the area especially in male-headed households and more in those households where the male head consumes alcohol. Recommendations to counteract this are that resources should be directed towards women by redefining the property rights so as to include women. There is need to find out whether gender inequality could be a contributing factor to poverty.