Gender and poverty reduction: A Kenyan context
Loading...
Date
2010-01
Authors
Kimani, Elishiba
Kombo, Donald Kisilu
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academic Journals
Abstract
Poverty is a dehumanising condition for every one. It erodes human rights of the affected whether women
or men. Poverty subjects an individual to a state of powerlessness, hopelessness, and lack of self-esteem,
confidence, and integrity, leading to a situation of multidimensional vulnerability. Poverty has a gender
dimension since women and men experience and react differently to its impact. It cuts across age, ethnicity
and gender. Unless there are realistic and workable interventions to redress the situation, there develops a
vicious circle of poverty where it is inherited from one generation to the other in households, communities
and the nation. As many people in Kenya are poor with the women bearing the blunt of it, reducing its
impact as well as breaking its vicious circle requires a concerted effort and a gender perspective in all the
interventive strategies. Commitment of Kenya Government to eradicate poverty is manifest in its current
development strategies, as demonstrated with the efforts towards the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals, especially No. 1, on the eradication of poverty to less than 30% of the Kenyans by 2015
and the Kenya Vision 2030. However, the reality on the ground indicates that despite these intentions, the
increase on the number of the poor both in rural and urban Kenya has been worrying. This creates a need to
intensify poverty reduction efforts in planning and programming, especially as regards to human resource
development, health, employment, physical infrastructures, agriculture, rural development, trade, public
safety, law and order, all of which are instrumental in scaling up the development process and poverty
eradication. Moreover sustainable poverty reduction strategies must engage both women and men as
actors and beneficiaries.
Description
Keywords
Kenya, poverty, gender, development, Strategies
Citation
Educational Research and Reviews Vol. 5 (01), pp. 024-030, January, 2010