Cultivating Equality: Economic Empowerment of Women and Sustainable Agriculture in Kenya

This research article evaluates women's economic empowerment in agriculture in Kenya. The study employed the pro-WEAI (Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index) tool and data gathered from 422 households, 9 key informants, 6 focus groups discussions, and 6 case studies. The analysis encompassed five key agricultural domains as per the WEAI- community leadership, time use, resources production and income, Additionally, it explored decision-making autonomy, nutritional aspects, attitudes towards domestic violence, intra-household relationships and physical mobility. The article’s results highlight the existence of socio-economic and cultural barriers that hinder the participation of women and their success in agriculture, in particular, limited land ownership, finance and training, exclusion from decision making and access to information. The specific nature and intensity of these challenges can differ due to the unique socio-economic, cultural, and environmental context in Kenya. The study recommends the need to establish social interventions that address gendered power as a relational phenomenon within households, markets and value chains using gender transformative approaches, the need to develop a framework that recognizes and compensates equitably women’s contribution to agricultural, and unpaid care and other invisible domestic tasks in Kenya; engage with other key stakeholders including the public and private sector to facilitate women's access to markets, to mention just few.