Women Claiming a Place in Kenya’s Blue Economy

By Caroline Katana

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

For years, women in Kenya’s coastal communities have helped sustain the Blue Economy while remaining largely locked out of the decisions, assets and high-value opportunities that shape the sector.

That is now beginning to change in Kwale and Lamu counties where a 42-month initiative is moving women from the margins of the coastal economy into meaningful participation, leadership, and decision-making cadre.

The Enabling Gender-Responsive, Circular, and Sustainable Blue Economies for Kenya Coastal Communities project, which began last year and runs until December 2028, is funded by Canada under a joint UN programme involving UN Women, UNIDO, FAO and UNEP Hand in Hand Eastern Africa is implementing the gender component.

Baseline findings from Kwale paint a stark picture of the barriers women face. Most women lack formal ownership of assets that could be used as collateral to access credit and expand their businesses.

While men dominate higher-earning deep-sea fishing, many women remain concentrated in lower-margin activities such as fish processing and vending.

Women also spend more than five hours a day on unpaid domestic work, compared with about 1.5 hours for men, further limiting the time available for business and community leadership.

Perhaps more tellingly, women are often invited to community meetings without being given a genuine opportunity to influence decisions.

Speaking during capacity building forum held at RedCross Ukunda, business relationship officer at Hand in Hand Eastern Africa Stephen Mutua said the project was seeking to change that culture by tackling inequality not only at the household level, but also in community structures and public institutions.

“One, we focus on gender mainstreaming and policy reforms alongside other stakeholders, when you ensure that laws and policies are strictly followed, it becomes much easier to address gender issues,” he said.

Gender mainstreaming brings men and women together to expand their businesses in the blue economy to sustain themselves.

Rather than treating women’s inclusion as a requirement to be checked off, the programme is using community-led approaches designed to give women and other excluded groups a stronger voice in decisions affecting their livelihoods.

Through the Gender Action Learning System (GALS), households are equipped with practical tools such as visioning and power diamonds to identify inequalities, set goals, and work towards greater economic empowerment.

The Right Way Forward (RWF) methodology takes the approach into the wider community by helping residents develop community action plans and engage duty bearers from assistant chiefs to County directors and governors on issues affecting their communities.

On Mkwiro Island, the change is vivid, community opinion shapers helped reorganise a primary school management board and secured key positions for women.

The new board mobilised local resources to pay Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) teachers, helping resolve a long-running school management challenges.

In Chiromo, Lunga Lunga, advocacy forums prompted men to publicly commit to sharing household chores, a seemingly simple change that can give women more time to participate in income-generating activities.

For women, the significance goes beyond the hours saved. It is about changing who gets to participate, who gets heard and who gets to make decisions.

Kwale County is also looking to increase women’s representation in Beach Management Units (BMUs), which play an important role in the governance of coastal fisheries.

Kwale County national gender officer Nelly Amoite said women involved in fishing must be given opportunities to take up leadership positions rather than remaining on the sidelines.

“We want women in the fishing industry to come on board and serve as leaders in BMU committees so that they have meaningful engagement and contribute to decision-making,” she said.

The officer said her office would work with Hand in Hand Eastern Africa to provide expertise and build the capacity needed to make that participation meaningful.

Emerging opportunities such as seaweed farming are also creating new entry points for women into the blue economy.

But advocates say economic inclusion must extend beyond women to other groups traditionally left out of development opportunities.

Mwanaisha Said, disability officer and resident of Kinondo Ward, said persons with disabilities must be involved from the beginning of development processes.

“Duty bearers must involve people with special needs right from the beginning as equal rights holders, not as an afterthought,” she said.

Kwale County social services and talent development director Samson Mangale Nyawa said gender-responsive economic development can strengthen entire households while reducing social vulnerabilities.

“When a household relies solely on a man’s income, problems arise. But when a woman brings income to the table, the entire family advances,” he said.

The director said creating opportunities for women, youth, and persons with disabilities in areas such as seaweed farming could also help address gender-based violence by strengthening economic independence.

He added that the county is supporting multi-departmental policies, including the Biashara Fund Act which is expected to provide funding to residents seeking to grow their businesses.

For the project, the bigger goal is not simply to create more women-owned businesses or increase attendance at community meetings.

It is to change how communities understand development, leadership and accountability.

Mutua said the right way forward approach deliberately keeps politics out of the process by helping communities understand that access to public services is a right rather than a favour from political leaders.

“We build the capacity of the community to understand that public services and development are their civic rights as citizens, not political privileges,” he said.

If sustained, the approach could redefine women’s role in the coastal blue economy from women who participate mainly in low-value activities and attend meetings as a formality, to women who own assets, access finance, lead community institutions, and have a decisive voice in how coastal resources and opportunities are managed.

For Kwale and Lamu counties, that shift could mean that the future of the blue economy is not only about growing the sector, but ensuring that the people who have long supported it are finally able to share in its power and prosperity