Leveraging Capital to Shift Gender Norms: Catalysing Women’s Empowerment in Kenya’s Blue Economy

In the blue economy sector for example, an analysis by the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) revealed that gendered norms consistently favor men while creating significant barriers for women’s access to opportunities. These norms include: women not being allowed to touch fishing boats during their “special days”, not being included in property inheritance and not being allowed to take up public leadership positions when their spouses are present. Left unchecked, these biased norms have led to incidences of gender-based violence, under representation of women in leadership and decision making, increased burden of care among women and significant gender gaps in access to finance.