The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has put in place strategies on a ‘Policy Framework for Gender Mainstreaming in the Private Sector to ensure inclusivity at corporate leadership and the workforce.
This, KEPSA says is to address some of the barriers that limit optimization of Board diversity and inclusion.
Speaking Thursday during the launch of the Board Diversity and Inclusion 2021 reports, KEPSA CEO Eva Muraya applauded the tremendous progress that Kenya has made in recognizing the role of women in leadership and economic development, by entrenching gender equality and protection of women’s rights in law, adding that this was a critical strategic factor for performance-oriented in organizations.
“In addressing some of the barriers that limit optimization of Board diversity and inclusion, KEPSA is finalizing the development of a ‘Policy Framework for Gender Mainstreaming in the Private Sector to ensure inclusivity at corporate leadership and the workforce.” Said Muraya.
Adding that: “As a result, we have seen the number of women scaling the heights in public and private sector leadership improve significantly over the last decade, compared to our peers in the region.”
Currently, KEPSA is undertaking a GBV advocacy program with an aim of eliminating GBV, scaling up evidence-driven prevention programming, and accessible services for survivors through private sector intervention.
Gender and age are critical components in driving organizational performance, decision making, and productivity.
Education level and national origin, to some extent, influence organizational performance.
Boards in Kenya are mostly constituted of professionals from the Accounting/Finance/Audit, Business Management and Development, Human Resources and Legal fields.
The average age of Kenyan board members is 47.6 years, down from 55.8 years in 2017.