WOMEN AT WORK.
Women in 2020 made 50.4% of the workforce. This is a great shift from 100 years ago where the workforce was majorly a mans station. The rise in the number of women in the workforce comes with an advantage. The economy is a lot stronger than it was because of the budding entrepreneurs, retailers, secretaries, c.e.os and all other professionals that women are now occupying. Despite this women at the workplace still grapple with a number of challenges. Some as basic as access to sanitary towels, serene and peaceful work environments, sexual harassment cases at work just to name a few.
Women despite being employed are not financially secure. A number of women still live paycheck to paycheck despite having been employed for a very long time. This is contributed majorly by the fact that most women works still curtailed in the workplace. They are either undervalued, discriminated against or both while at work.
Work-life balance. Most women juggle work, childcare, family and the day to day struggles that come with life. This is most times is usually with little or no support. From female top celebrities like Jennifer Lopez to Jane from next door, women desire to have a favourable desire to have a work-life balance. The kind that would allow for the proper rearing of children without it harming their career. A healthy work-life balance that won't get in the way of having kids or one that will most definitely threaten their paycheck. Women have to choose one, working to not only make ends meet but also climb the corporate ladder and enjoying life as a whole.
Child care. In any part of the world, child care costs more than rent and college fees combined. Leaving work to have a baby is a hustle on its own. With childcare costs at an all-time high, returning to work is not a financially viable choice for some. Most women around the world choose to stay home and tend to the kids instead of going back to work, this sometimes put a financial burden on one spouse. For women without supportive partners, daycare is left as the only option meaning more money spent. When it comes to women and career somethings gotta give.
The continues to be a site for consolidating power, building wealth and amassing influence outside the home and we have been socialised to see women as not needing this access as they are supposed to be catered to by the resources of men in their lives,Dr Ngumi.
The Gender Pay Gap. According to the World Economic Forum report 2017, a Kenyan woman is paid Sh55 for every Sh100 paid to a man for doing a similar job.Women are generally paid less than men for the same amount of work. It is blamed on a number of things. The first being the primitive school of thought that men should always lead, from having the seat at the table to owning property, most people women included don't see the need of a woman having her own. Child penalty is also a probable cause, when women take maternity leave, most of them never earn the same as men, even after resuming work.
Women being part of the workforce need more than just a paycheck, we need equal pay!
Calculate your gender pay gap https://www.theelephant.info/gender-gap/