Determinants of Gender Mainstreaming Process in Recruitment Practices in the Public Sector, Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

In the last two decades, there have been numerous efforts by international organizations and national governments around the world to ensure gender mainstreaming in the public sector as well as in the private sector. In Kenya, the law requires at least 30 percent representation of any gender in public institutions. The purpose of this policy was to enhance better recruitment and fairness to women across government ministries and other public institutions. However, despite the formulation of policies to increase women representation in public institutions, gender mainstreaming and the representation of women in public institutions, still remain low. This studyItherefore sought toIexamine theIdeterminants of genderImainstreaming process in recruitment in Nairobi County government. The study also sought to determine the influenceIof traditional practices, genderIroles, religious practices and community perception on women in gender mainstreaming process in recruitment in Nairobi County, Kenya. Moreover, this research adopted descriptive survey design. Additionally, target population was the heads of 16 women advocacy organizations in Nairobi County and 143 staffs in 10 departments in the County government of Nairobi. StratifiedIrandom samplingIwas used to select 112 respondentsIfrom targetIpopulation. Moreover, the research employed primary data which was gathered using both semistructuredIquestionnaires as well as interview guides. A pretest was conducted to evaluate and boost the reliability as well as validity of research tools. Semi structured questionnaire generated quantitative as well as qualitative data, which was then analyzed by the use of diverse methods. Furthermore, the keyIinformant interview yieldedIqualitative information. Furthermore, contentIanalysis was usedIto evaluate qualitativeIdata, andIthe findings were presented in narrative form. In order to analyze quantitative data, descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Means, percentages, standardIdeviations, andIfrequencies were used to categorize descriptive statistics. Correlation and regression analysis are types of inferential statistics used in the study. Study results were given in figures and also tables. The researcher found that gender roles have a positive and significant influence on gender mainstreaming process in recruitment in Nairobi County, Kenya. Additionally, the study found that religious practices have positive significant influence on gender mainstreaming process in recruitment in Nairobi County. Further, the study established that community perception on women has a positive and significant influence on gender mainstreaming process in recruitment in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study therefore recommends that the heads of women organizations should enlighten women and show them their capabilities in relation to professional work. The top management should also focus on encouraging women to fight for top positions in their organization since they are capable of influencing decisions and sustaining challenges.