Women Empowerment Of Women Essay

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDY

1.0 Introduction

The chapter comprises of the background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research question, justification of the study and scope of the study

1.1 Background of the Study

Women constitute around half of the world’s population while in most nations, Kenya included, they are in fact more than half of the world’s population. Women are therefore regarded as the better half of the society (Khanka 1999). In traditional societies, women have been confined to the four walls of the house, performing household activities mostly as wives and mothers. This has played a major role in having the men a step ahead of women in entrepreneurship.

However, things have changed

The goal is to increase opportunities all round among Women, Youth and disadvantaged groups. Specific strategies will involve increasing the participation of women in all economic, social and political decision making processes through higher representation in parliament, improving access of all disadvantaged groups to business opportunities, health and education services, housing, justice and minimizing vulnerability through prohibition of retrogressive practices such as female genital mutilations

Gender inequality is also highlighted as a challenge to development of the small and medium enterprises in session paper number 2 (2005). Entrepreneurship is the process of using private initiative to transform a business concept into a new venture or to grow or diversify an existing one. The government views small and medium enterprises (SME) sector as one of the engines for faster economic growth. For Kenya to achieve her stated goal in the Vision 2030 “equity and poverty elimination” one of the strategic plans is to increase opportunities all around women. Specific strategies involve increasing women participation in economic, social and political decision making processes as well as their access to business opportunities, health and education services, housing and justice. However for these goals to be achieved ever, women owned enterprises growth is fundamental. In this respect, the government has made specific allocation of funds to the MSE sector with special consideration to the Gender (Women), youth and vulnerable groups. The jua kali sector has also been considered, Medium Term Plan (MTP) report 2008 – 2012). Numerous interventions have been put in place by several stakeholders, a culture and environment favorable to