Photo courtesy Salaamedia

Women in Kenya face twice the unemployment levels compared to men, according to data released from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

The figures reveal that the percentage of women who had been unemployed in the 12 months before the KNBS survey was 40.3 percent compared to 18.5 percent for men.

In terms of short-term unemployment women fared no better. Women who had not worked for seven days prior to the survey stood at 7.4 percent compared to 3.3 percent among men.

Education and unemployment

Education makes a difference in unemployment rates but not so much in terms of the differential rates between women and men.

For women with no formal education the long-term unemployment rate stands at 63.6 percent compared to 18.7 percent for men.

For those whose education went beyond secondary school 25.8 percent of women were unemployed against 11.7 percent for men, the survey shows.

Youth Unemployment

Again, the ratio of unemployment between young women and young men reveals similar disparities.

Among women aged 20 to 24 the unemployment rate is 48.3 percent, whereas it stands at 23.1 percent among men in the same age range.

Start-ups and gender disparity

Meanwhile, another report just released, this time by Disrupt Africa entitled ‘Diversity Dividend: Exploring Gender Equality in the African Tech Ecosystem’, suggests that only about 10 percent of Kenyan start-ups are headed by female chief executives.

The report says that only 11.2 percent of Kenyan start-up CEOs are women and only 16.6 percent female founded.

Of the 331 Kenyan start-ups surveyed, 55 were co-founded by women and 37 had female chief executives.

The Disrupt Africa survey extended across Zambia, Rwanda, Tunisia, Senegal, South Africa, Nigeria and Egypt, in addition to Kenya.