FACTORS AFFECTING PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP POSITIONS IN KENYA

1.1       Background of the Study

In the global sphere, the issue of inclusiveness of women especially in leadership has been a major challenge. Despite women have become the engine of economic development. In any case, women stay underrepresented in businesses, especially at senior administration levels (Amon, 2017). The young women entering the labor market in the 21^st century have the same or higher qualifications than their male counterparts yet they are not given equal opportunities in the world job market.   The level of senior business jobs held by women remains at not exactly a third and right around four out of ten organizations in the Group of Seven (G7) nations have no ladies in senior administration positions (Medland, 2016). Women once in a while accomplish executive management positions or fill in as individuals of senior company boards. However, women have progressively surpassed men as far as tertiary education accomplishment. While much advancement has been made, women remain underutilized despite speaking to a dynamic and proficient pool of ability (Haley, Haley, & Markova, 2019).

In Australia women hold right around 33% of senior administration positions in an, a fourth of associations have no women in those positions (Work Place Gender Equality Agency, 2015). In the United States of America, women make up 50.8 percent of the United States population besides they earn more than 57 percent of undergraduate degrees and 59 percent of all master’s degrees. Despite women having roughly 52 percent of all the management and professional-level jobs, the United States of America women lag substantially behind men concerning their representation in the leadership positions (Marisa, & Mildred, 2020)  In the financial services industry, they constitute about 61percent of accountants and auditors, 53 percent of financial managers and 37 percent of financial analysts. Despite having a majority of positions at the managerial level, they only constitute 12.5 percent of chief financial officers in Fortune 500 companies. In the late 20^th century, women made great strides and made more rapid advances in the private sector unlike in the political world. The gender gap narrowed significantly then, also sex segregation declined significantly in most professions and the percentage of women rising to top management ranks rose steadily. In the 1980s there were no women especially in the top executive ranks of the fortune 100 companies, however, in the early 2000s, about 11 percent of all corporate leaders were women. (Marisa, & Mildred, 2020).  Women’s share of board seats in S&P companies increased 7.2 percent from 1997 to 2009, and their share of top executive positions increased by 8 percent (Marisa, & Mildred, 2020).  The share of women increased by more than six-folds, however, in recent times the progress has been uneven. There has been great gender-discriminatory that has stalled the rate of women’s advancement in leadership positions. In the last decade, the narrowing of the gender wage gap has decelerated and the percentage of women on corporate boards has greatly stagnated. In 2018, women were just about 5 percent of fortune 500 Chief Executive officers (CEO) down from a record high of 6 percent in 2017(Marisa, & Mildred, 2020).

Despite certain signs that we are at long last beginning to conquer firm boundaries that have kept women from aspiring to the top positions offered in worldwide companies, the reality remains that achieving corporate achievement is an exceptionally debilitating undertaking for some women leaders in the Western world. In territories like account, financial matters, and investments, females keep on being woefully under-represented in procedures of dynamic in associations and organizations worldwide, worldwide, and national levels. For instance, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have just 20% women in their authority staff and approximatively 10% of women governors (Qian, 2016).  Conversely, some contend that women are propelling their vocations quicker in the government instead of in the private sector. Approximate 10% of the Member States of the United Nations is led by women, contrasted with 3% of the best 1,000 worldwide organizations, which are driven by a president or CEO female (Deloitte, 2012). Moreover, women represent around 20% of all parliamentarians around the world, contrasted with 13.5% women included for the administration of the best 500 US organizations (idem).

The progression of women has been a focal point of enterprises for more than 25 years, yet the proportion of women in top employments has remained essentially unaltered in the previous 10 years. Truth be told, in some significant associations, early advancement has offered a path to a slow down or decay (Nefdt, 2019). This persevering nonappearance of sexual orientation balance and different appearances of decent variety at senior levels in Canadian enterprises is not a “women’ issue.” Rather, it is a serious burden. Besides, it is one that ought to be of worry to all Canadians, regardless of whether they know about this unevenness or not. There has been an ongoing spate of articles about women in business – or more to the point, about women not in the matter of driving business. It is very much recorded that senior administration jobs and board positions keep on going to men’s overall businesses (Kangas, Haider, Fraser, & Browne, 2015).

The active participation of women in leadership positions has led to better and improved financial performance. A case, for instance, was seen in Japan where the Prime minister, Abe greatly emphasized the utilization of women’s skills as the main part of “Abenomics” in the view of driving Japan’s sluggish economy to greater competitiveness in the world (Aramaki., Aramaki, & Dreyer, 2018).  The world should imitate and borrow from Japan’s policies that favor women’s participation in leadership positions.

From one perspective, the information unmistakably demonstrates that, despite cases in actuality, women have not advanced in the last while. Along these lines, there is no compelling reason to burn through our time on round and futile contentions about “level playing fields” and “equivalent open doors for women.” On the other hand, in any case, this pattern is upsetting and mirrors a practically cliché protection from change. Throughout the previous 20 years, corporate pioneers and sheets have been caught up with “tallying women” and “social event verification” rather than opening their senior groups to enter from various sources. (Kossek, Rong, & Lusi, 2016).  On the ongoing discourse and involvement in various associations, including pharmaceutical, innovation, banking, accounting, and consulting associations, uncover that these remaining parts valid. If advancement and development are genuine objectives, slowing down strategies, for example, checking can be viewed as perilous. Truth be told, this unending exchange about the business benefit of expanding the cooperation and headway of women in our associations at all levels is itself a huge hindrance to progression.  As Haley, Haley, and Markova (2019) found in her examination, the mentalities towards women held by men moving on from business college today are equivalent to they were 30 years prior, similar to the distinctions in pay even among MBA’s.

As indicated by the African Development Bank Gender Index of 2015, a greater part of 3 African organizations has just a single woman as a board chief. It additionally demonstrates that around 33% have no women on the board and another third, just has just one woman on the board of management. The report concluded that most of the African organizations have few women on its board. In the private sector, Africa performs well on the worldwide stage, with a higher rate than normal of women’s official advisory group individuals, CEOs, and board individuals. At the executive committee level, African women hold 23 percent of positions, contrasted, and a worldwide normal of 20 percent. (Grodzicki, 2018). At the CEO level, they hold 5 percent of positions, contrasted and 4 percent universally, making Africa the top-performing locale close by the United States. At the board level, African women hold 14 percent of seats contrasted and a worldwide normal of 13 percent. Portrayal changes impressively, be that as it may, across areas and businesses inside Africa (Chizema, Kamuriwo, & Shinozawa, 2015).  For instance, in Southern Africa, 20 percent of board positions are held by women, contrasted with the 14 percent normal on the mainland in general. In North Africa, the figure is 9 percent. Contrasts are more noteworthy still when assessed by industry. In the 55 organizations that took an interest in our study, 29 percent of senior administration positions – characterized here as official counsel individuals and their immediate reports – are held by women (Cabeza-García, Del Brio, & Oscanoa-Victorio, 2018) Social insurance and pharmaceuticals have the most noteworthy offer with 39 percent Heavy industry slacks, as may be normal in a part that customarily depends on its workforce on engineers – who are still practically all men10 – with only 9 percent (Cabeza-García, Del Brio, & Oscanoa-Victorio, 2018). Conversely, gender inequality carries a huge cost in Africa, according to the United Nations Development Program (2016) report, about 95$ million annual economic losses were incurred due to gender inequality in 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa. According to the Africa Development Bank (2015), the major factors influencing women’s participation in private leadership included culture, traditions, and mindsets.

In Kenya, women account for half of the total population and therefore ought to have a substantial part to play in the country’s pursuit of global competitiveness (United Nations Statistics, 2017). However, the numbers of women in senior leadership roles in the Kenyan corporate arena, both in the public and private sectors, remain dismal. According to statistics from the International Labour Organization (2015), women in Kenya hold only 44 of the 462 board seats of the 55 companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and that those with female board members are majority-owned by multinationals. Further, a report published by the Commonwealth in 2015 reflects that women hold very few Kenyan private-sector leadership positions and less than a third of the head of department positions in many private managed organizations (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2015). Women presently constitute a large majority share of employees in the private sector. Yet women are still underrepresented in private enterprise leadership.

In Kenya especially in the private sector, there have been numerous efforts by the women groups and government regarding the participation of women in leadership however the efforts have not yet yielded many results. Despite, gender equality campaigns by non-governmental organizations, the leadership positions in the private sector in Kenya are mainly held by men the senior positions are mostly occupied by men. The representation of women greatly diminishes as they move up the corporate ladder in many corporate businesses in Kenya. This study will thus answer the question of what are the factors that affect the participation of women in leadership positions in Kenya?

1.2 Statement of the problem

Although women constitute a large majority share in the private sector in many parts of the world, they are still underrepresented in the participation of leadership in the private sector administration. In most developing countries, there has been a promotion of gender equity in all aspects of life. (United Nations Statistics, 2017).  Kenya has made efforts in equal representation of women in various leadership positions, one of the measure is that underpinned in the constitution of Kenya (2010) that requires a one-third gender representation in all government and state corporations. However,  one third-gender rule applies to the public sector only. The private sector is a major driver of economies in the world and Kenya no exception, thus the private sector has a key opportunity and responsibility to create a larger impact concerning women’s leadership. In Kenya, there have been efforts geared towards women participation in the private sector, however, the challenges have overshadowed the effort.

According to International Labour Organization (2015), the statistics on women in top leadership hide an important issue that women leaders use most of their time working rather than networking while in today’s market the reality of the matter is that the value derived from networking cannot be overstated. Women’s Participation in corporate leadership is a critical tool for empowering individuals. This is because participation in both business and corporate leadership empowers individuals to participate in formal business structures and processes, where decisions regarding the use of societal resources are generated. In Kenya, women are under-represented in corporate and business leadership.

According to the African Development Bank (2015) research report on 12 African countries, Kenya scored the highest as 19.8 % women representation with South Africa at 17.4% and Botswana at 16.9 %. Despite the higher representation of women in private leadership in comparison to other African countries, women still are under-represented in private companies in Kenya. The importance of private sector engagement in advancing gender equality cannot be overstated. By making women participation in leadership, the private sector can be a driver of progress that benefits all.  The factors behind gender disparities in leadership are many and complex. They include economic, social, and cultural factors. Although women form the majority in many organizations such as the private sector, they remain few in administrative positions. The study, therefore, sought to assess the determinants of women participation in leadership positions in the private sector in Kenya

1.3 Objectives of the Study

To achieve the purpose of the study, the following objectives will be addressed

1. To determine whether the social-economic status has any influence on the level of women participation in leadership positions in the private sector Kenya.
2. To identify the influence of cultural beliefs, values, and practices on the participation of women in the leadership of the private sector in Kenya.

• To determine if gender roles influence women’s participation in the private sector in Kenya.

1. To determine if women’s perception of themselves as an influence on leadership in the private sector in Kenya.

1.4 Significance of the study

The findings of this study will be significant in several ways. The findings may, therefore, influence future policies and practices on the appointment of women to leadership positions in the private sector. Secondly, the findings may assist in the identification of characteristic which pushes women away from leadership positions hence measures to empower women to enable them to take up leadership positions. The study is hoped to provide useful suggestions to the private sector to further foster gender balance in the appointment of leadership positions. The study may form a basis for further research on women leadership positions

1.5 Conceptual Framework

  Independent Variables                                                                        Dependent Variab

2.0       Liter

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