Kenya advances toward a National Care Policy as data highlights urgent need for reform

The Government of Kenya, with support from UN Women Kenya, is accelerating efforts to develop a comprehensive National Care Policy, following mounting evidence from the Kenya National Bureau of Statisticsthat women disproportionately shoulder the country’s unpaid care work responsibilities. 

A two-day capacity-building workshop for national and county gender officers was held in July 2025 to strengthen understanding and support for the policy’s implementation, with participation of high-level government officials and development partners.

The workshop, coordinated by UN Women, brought together key actors including the Cabinet Secretary, Gender, Culture, the Arts and Heritage, Hannah Cheptumo, and Principal Secretary, Ann Wang’ombe, of the State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action. 

Recent findings from the 2022 Kenya Time Use Survey revealed that women in Kenya spend an average of four hours and 38 minutes per day on unpaid care work, compared to just one hour and one minute for men. This means Kenyan women dedicate 196 full-time workdays annually to unpaid care, four times more than men. The situation is more severe than the global and sub-Saharan African averages, with Kenya ranking third highest in the region for time spent by women on unpaid care.

These statistics underscore the urgent need for policy action. The care economy is already significant, accounting for 7 per cent of total employment in Kenya, with women representing two-thirds of the workforce in care-related jobs. Yet, despite its importance, the sector remains undervalued and poorly supported.

According to the National Care Needs Assessment Report, 19.2 million Kenyans, two in every five, require care, particularly children and the elderly. By 2045, the number of older people needing care is expected to triple. National and county governments currently invest heavily in the care economy, with care sectors comprising 23 per cent of national expenditure and 32 per cent of county-level spending, especially on healthcare. However, these investments remain fragmented and lack coordination without a unified policy framework.

It is against this backdrop that the National Care Policy is being developed. The process began in 2023 with extensive consultations involving the Ministry of Gender, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), and civil society. The policy seeks to recognize, reduce, redistribute, reward, represent, and resource (5R+) unpaid care work and to integrate gender-responsive care planning into national and county budgets.

The workshop aimed to increase awareness of the draft policy among gender officers, prepare them to participate meaningfully in upcoming technical working group meetings, and build consensus across all levels of government.

Participants reaffirmed the importance of the policy not only as a gender equality tool but also as an economic strategy. With care work contributing to over 40 per cent of female wage employment and 7 per cent of Kenya’s GDP, its formal recognition and support could unleash significant economic potential.

As Kenya charts a new path toward inclusive development, the National Care Policy stands to transform how care work is valued and supported. Its success will depend on data-driven planning, political will, and stakeholder buy-in, much of which was fostered during this milestone workshop.