Women’s Empowerment in Kenya – Developing a Measure 2025
About Report
Publications
General Publications
August
2025
Overview
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) is pleased to present the report on Women Empowerment in Kenya, which was developed in close collaboration with UN Women and UNICEF Kenya. This report is a timely and critical contribution to the national efforts to address gender equality, and women empowerment. As the principal agency for official statistics in Kenya, KNBS remains committed to generating and availing high-quality data that informs policy, planning, and development programming. Women’s empowerment plays a vital role in advancing gender equality and driving sustainable development. To better understand the situation of women in Kenya, this study adopted the Kabeer Framework and utilized data from the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS).The Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) report established that 40.6 per cent of women in Kenya are empowered in 2025 compared to 29.3 per cent in 2020. Women in urban areas, with higher education levels, and those from wealthier households tend to be more empowered - highlighting significant disparities that must be addressed. Women in urban areas (59.3%) are more than twice empowered than women in rural areas (27.6%)