The effect of socio-economic discrimination on womens' empowerment: a case of Gatue division, Tharaka North district, Kenya

Abstract

Socio- economic discrimination of women has been an issue of concern globally and Kenya in particular. Although the Kenyan constitution has put emphasis on gender equality and women empowerment and that many worlds' governments ratified CEDA Wand accepted it as a Bill of Rights for women in their laws, these have however not received meaningful support from men as well as the government structures. It is on this ground that the researcher sought to find out the effects of socio-economic discrimination on women's empowerment in Gatue division- Tharaka North District.

The research was carried out using descriptive and cor-relational research designs and the data was collected through 6 key informant interviews and 8 focused group discussions. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and themes since the study was based on both quantitative and qualitative paradigms. The analyzed data was presented using percentages, frequency distribution tables and themes.

The study revealed that socio-economic discrimination of women in form of lack of participation in decision making and leadership roles, lack of property ownership and engagement in economic activities, inadequate access to education, are an hindrance to women's empowerment because they reduce the women to the domestic sphere with limited opportunities to get empowered. The study also recommends that similar studies be done in other parts of the country so as to establish similarities or differences in research findings and to enrich future studies.