31 years after Beijing: Mixed progress and persistent obstacles for rural women

What you need to know:

• Kenya climbed from 98th to 65th on the Global Gender Gap Index, reflecting gains in education and economic participation. Yet inequalities remain, and for many women, national rankings do not capture the full picture.

Thirty-one years after the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action set out a global agenda for advancing women’s rights, Kenya’s rural women continue to navigate the promises of empowerment against persistent barriers including poverty, patriarchy and unequal access to opportunities.

The Beijing Platform for Action remains one of the most comprehensive global frameworks for advancing women’s rights. It identifies 12 critical areas of concern: poverty; education and training; health; violence against women; armed conflict; the economy; power and decision-making; institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women; human rights; the media; the environment; and the girl child.

Different forms of progress

For rural women in Kenya, progress has taken different forms. Some have risen to leadership positions and built successful businesses, while others still break stones to feed their families. Their experiences offer a glimpse of how far women have come since Beijing, the opportunities they have gained and the barriers that continue to hold them back.

Kenya’s performance in the Global Gender Gap Index 2026 reflects some of these gains, alongside persistent inequalities. The country rose from 98th place in 2025 to 65th in 2026, with improvements in education and economic participation contributing to the progress.

Women’s labour-force participation stands at 54.26 per cent, compared with 64.28 per cent for men. Wage equality remains limited, with Kenya scoring 0.606 on the index’s wage-equality measure. Women’s estimated earned income is also lower, at 5.04 compared with 6.65 for men.

In education, female literacy stands at 81.47 per cent, compared with 85.91 per cent among men. While primary school enrolment is 90.62 per cent for girls and 99.57 per cent for boys, political empowerment remains a major challenge, with Kenya scoring 0.201 in this category.

For rural women, these national figures provide important context, but they do not tell the whole story. Their experiences reveal what progress means in everyday life, from access to education and economic opportunities to the ability to own resources, influence decisions and shape their communities’ futures.

Opportunities never had

When Martha Matano looks back at her younger years, she sees opportunities she never had. At 49, the mother of nine is still grappling with the consequences of an education she could not complete as she struggles to secure a better future for her children.

A resident of Rabai in Kilifi County, Martha dropped out of school in Class Six because her parents could not afford her education. She had hoped to continue her studies, but poverty forced her to abandon that ambition.

She got married at 19, taking her husband’s name on her identity card. For years, her husband helped provide for their family. His death in 2019, however, left her struggling to raise their nine children alone.

She tried chicken farming to earn an income, but the business collapsed.

“When my husband died, everything became my responsibility,” she says.

Martha is now determined to give her children the education she missed. One is at university on a scholarship, offering hope that the next generation can escape some of the hardships she faces.

“I want my children to get a good education and secure jobs. I don’t want them to go through the challenges I am facing,” she says.

For Martha, education is key to financial independence and better opportunities. “Nowadays, if you don’t have an education, you are nobody,” she adds.

Consequences of inaccessible education

She believes her limited schooling has also held her back from leadership. Although she serves on school committees, she has never held a leadership position in a women’s group.

Martha has heard of government programmes intended to empower women but has yet to benefit from them. She wants the national government to provide financial support to small traders and other women in the informal sector.

For Mariam Mjani, 49, the struggle to make ends meet has meant moving from one small business to another. Mariam married at 18 and left school in Class Six because of poverty. Her first business collapsed, forcing her to turn to charcoal selling.

The trade provides some income, but her earnings remain unpredictable. Her husband works as a casual labourer, and together they struggle to educate their four children. One is in college, but paying the fees has become a challenge.

“Sometimes we have money, and sometimes we don’t. Life has not changed much, but at least the charcoal business helps us,” she says.

Mariam also breaks stones to supplement the family’s income, despite the physical demands of the work.

She lives on family land and has no property in her name. She dreams of buying land and building rental houses but says her businesses have not generated enough income to make that possible.

Household decisions

Although Mariam participates in household decisions, financial insecurity still limits her choices. She discusses with her husband how to spend their money, but the family still struggles to meet basic needs and pay college fees.

She belongs to a table-banking group where members borrow money to support their businesses and repay the loans. However, the arrangement has not enabled her to achieve the financial security she wants.

Mariam says she has yet to accomplish many of her personal ambitions. She hopes her children, particularly her daughter in college, will receive the education she missed and secure better opportunities.

Seizing opportunities

Their experiences contrast with that of Witness Tsuma, 54, who has used her education and professional skills to create opportunities for women and children in Kilifi and Mombasa counties. A trained teacher specialising in children with disabilities, Witness pursued further studies, including training abroad, before establishing institutions for children with special needs.

Her work includes Ngerenya Stars Academy in Kilifi North, Sajahanad School in Mtwapa and Tom Mboya Cerebral Palsy School in Mombasa.

For Witness, establishing a school was a way to extend educational opportunities beyond her own family.

“I did not want my children to go to university while those of my neighbours missed out,” she says.

She is proud that some pupils from the schools she established secured sponsorships, completed secondary education and proceeded to university. Some have become doctors, while others have gone abroad.

Her own children have also benefited from education, with one becoming a doctor and another a software engineer.

Witness has extended her work to women who left school early. One woman she encountered had dropped out in Class Seven after having seven children. Encouraged by Witness, she returned to school, completed primary and secondary education, earned a diploma and is now pursuing a degree.

Witness says her own journey has given her the confidence to empower others. “I can now stand before women, encourage them and help them understand the opportunities available to them,” she says.

Leadership

Her professional experience has also opened doors to leadership. She has served as chairperson of Maendeleo ya Wanawake in Kilifi County and chairs her clan, bringing family members together to support younger generations.

Unlike Martha, who believes her limited education has restricted her leadership opportunities, Witness has used her training and experience to influence community affairs.

She has also challenged practices that disadvantage women, particularly in land ownership. During a Senate visit to Kilifi County in September, she raised concerns about women, especially widows, who lack title deeds despite having access to land.

Witness has also helped improve access to healthcare for people with hearing disabilities. As a pioneer of interpreter training under the Seventh-day Adventist Church, she has helped train interpreters who now serve in various institutions. She says deaf people previously struggled to communicate their symptoms to healthcare workers, sometimes making hospital visits difficult.

The presence of interpreters in Kilifi hospitals has helped bridge that gap. For Witness, such changes demonstrate how education and community leadership can improve lives beyond an individual’s immediate family.

From staying at home to running businesses

In Nakuru County, seated on a plastic blue chair, Ruth Moraa waits for customers inside a wooden temporary structure where she sells footwear and second-hand clothes in Elburgon Town.

During a recent interview at her rental stall, Ruth reflected that, 31 years after the Beijing Conference, her life as a rural woman has changed and become more enlightened; she can now work independently, unlike in the past when women were confined to the home.

“After the conference, I learnt that women can provide for their families without depending on anyone, and take on leadership positions either within the community, at the county or national levels. Young girls were married off early and denied education, and female genital mutilation (FGM) was widely practised,” recalls the 47-year-old mother of three girls, aged 21, 16 and 11.

Ruth was married in 2005 at the age of 21. “I wanted to start my own life, a decision I made for myself without being persuaded by anyone,” she says.

Her childhood ambition was to become a doctor, but as the only daughter in a family of five, she says her brothers were prioritised when it came to education. She only studied up to Class Eight.

“I will ensure that my children get an education so that they reach a point where I was denied by my parents,” she says.

Today she serves as chairperson of a local women’s association, drawing on experience rather than formal schooling.

Technology has also reshaped her life. She has learned to make sales online and is optimistic this will improve her business.
With her husband relying on casual jobs, Ruth carefully plans the little she earns from her stall to pay school fees, feed the family and meet domestic needs.

Despite political commitments to advance gender equality, she says women are still denied higher positions of leadership.

“Many women continue to languish in poverty, face gender-based violence, and are demeaned, rejected and neglected in the community as they go about their businesses, even after the Beijing Declaration,” she says.

Given the chance, she says, she would return to school. She hopes to own land, practise mixed farming, expand her business and create jobs for the youth.

The power of women’s groups

In Turkana County, Miriam Emoit, aged 36, from Kanamkemer village in Turkana Central Sub County, says her turning point came when she joined local women’s groups.

“As a young woman, I was naive and always respected all the decisions made by men,” she says.

Growing up in a patriarchal society, she says, she had little say in matters that affected her future, including her reproductive health, family planning or whether she could continue with school.

She dropped out of school in Form Two because her family could not afford the fees. Later, she joined women’s groups where she was introduced to empowerment activities in business, reproductive health, politics, agri-nutrition, kitchen gardens and family health.

“Now I can have a discussion with my husband on whether we want another child or not,” she explains. For Miriam, the ability to negotiate family planning is a profound change, a sign that women’s voices can be heard in spaces once closed to them.

They share household decisions. “Money that I make or we save as a family, I must consult my husband on how it is spent. Whatever I earn I can’t just spend without involving my husband,” she says.

Land ownership is another frontier she is yet to cross. “There is no property or land I independently own. It is either in the name of my husband or joint,” she says.

Political leadership

Inspired by the election of Ruth Kuya as Lodwar MCA, Miriam hopes to become Kanamkemer MCA.

She says her husband now supports her attendance at political meetings, a shift she attributes to education, devolution and technology exposing men to new ideas. “Through empowerment and interaction with right-thinking women in leadership, my husband is supporting my long-term future decision of engaging in politics,” she says.

However, she says, she is uncomfortable speaking in community meetings dominated by men, where women’s views are often dismissed.

“They believe that we belong only in the kitchen,” she says.

Academic achievements

From Trans Nzoia County, Diana Lukosi, now aged 50, traces the arc of her life, drawing a clear line between what it was like before the Beijing Conference and how things have changed since.

The widow from Sabata in Kiminini remembers that, as a young girl, she woke at dawn to fetch water and firewood before walking nearly 15 kilometres to farm on her family’s land. She also trekked to school.

Her life today is transformed. Diana is an economist with a degree from the University of Nairobi and educational qualifications up to the doctorate level. She owns land, a house and a car in her name, and she speaks in boardrooms and conferences.

She has faced challenges in her journey towards empowerment. She ventured into businesses, including opening a restaurant, a clothes shop, a cybercafé and a solar-lamps enterprise, but some collapsed amid inheritance disputes and poor planning.

Education was central to Diana’s transformation. She says her academic achievements have given her professional opportunities and a platform to engage in community development.

She is proud of how far she has come, but she believes more children from vulnerable households need support to complete their education.

She wishes bursaries and scholarships were more accessible, particularly at university level, so that a family’s financial circumstances do not determine a child’s future.

As a mother, she wants her daughters and other children to have opportunities that are not limited by their parents’ ability to pay school fees. She is particularly concerned about orphans and children from disadvantaged families who may be forced to abandon their education.

Uneven access

She says girls’ access to education, technology and professional opportunities remains uneven.

“A girl from a financially secure family may have many opportunities, while a girl from a poor rural household may struggle to pay school fees or access digital resources,” she says.

For her, progress means ensuring that every girl has a fair chance to pursue her ambitions, regardless of her background.

She proposes that counties make information about development programmes, enterprise support and funding opportunities more accessible to women at the grassroots.

In Trans Nzoia, for example, she sees opportunities for women and young people in green jobs, clean energy, climate action, agriculture, entrepreneurship and innovation.

County governments, she says, should publicise available opportunities, use transparent selection criteria and ensure women can access funding and services fairly.

Beyond promises

She believes the national and county governments can move beyond promises and translate commitments to women’s empowerment into tangible support through deliberate actions.

She proposes establishing a Wanawake na Ustawi Fund (Women and Well-being Fund) to support women’s economic empowerment, social welfare and independence.

Her proposed fund would have dedicated funding windows for green energy, education and bursaries, fashion and talent, women in business, widows’ empowerment, agriculture and food security, and digital innovation.

“The national government should ensure that women have direct, transparent and equitable access to public funding and development programmes,” she says.