Abstract.Day3.Muriithi2

What is the Role of Time Use Data in the Development of Gender and Care-Work Policies in Kenya?

Moses Kinyanjui Muriithi, Reuben Mutegi, and Germano Mwabu

The Government of Kenya's signature in both international and national treaties and instruments in support of SDGs provides the underlying rationale for inaugural nationally representative time use survey conducted in 2021 and published by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in 2023. Kenya needed to measure unpaid care work to monitor the SDGs agreed to by UN member states in 2015. More immediately, however, researchers in Kenya could not effectively include the country in the National Time Transfer Account (NTTA), a global project to measure the economic status of women and men using a lifecycle approach, without a national time use survey. As a result, time use data became a priority of the Kenya Government. the utilization of nation-wide time use data will only be of policy value if its potential to generate evidence to improve gender equality in care-work in the country is appreciated by the government and other stakeholders. This paper explores the usage of time-use data in Kenya among individuals, groups, and organizations with capacity to use or advocate the use of this type of data to improve gender equality care-work using evidenced policies and interventions.