Browsing by Author "Kimaru, Winnie Wangui"

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    Gender Inequality and Its Implications on Economic Growth in Kenya
    (Kenyatta University, 2025-05) Kimaru, Winnie Wangui
    Despite its extensive socioeconomic effects, gender inequality remains a significant worldwide concern. The study's objective was to determine the relationship between gender inequality and Kenya's economic growth. Time series data on all variables investigated, including the gender inequality index, fertility rate, female labour market participation, investment, population growth, literacy level, and female loan availability, were used in this non-experimental analysis. The data covered the years 1995–2023. The Autoregressive Distributed Lags (ARDL) method was used to analyse the data. Despite looking at various theories, the study was centred on the Solow growth model since it takes labour and human capital into account. The study incorporates gender-specific labor and education dimensions, feminist economics, and endogenous growth theories to understand the impact of gender inequality on Kenya's economic growth. The study reveals that gender inequality in Kenya is influenced by fertility rate, women's literacy, and political representation. Higher fertility rates increase inequality, while improved literacy and political representation reduce it. Economic growth is influenced by gender inequality, investment, labor force participation, and literacy. Addressing gender disparities is crucial for long-term economic development. The results demonstrated that political representation, women's literacy, and the pace of reproduction are all factors that have a major impact on gender disparity in Kenya. Fertility rate and gender inequality in Kenya are favourably connected. The study also discovered that Kenya's economic growth is strongly impacted by the gender inequality index, investment level, labour market activity, and literacy level. The study also showed that while the gender inequality index has a negative influence on economic growth, women's literacy and labour market involvement have a statistically significant positive impact.