Women must seek equality in job market

Sometimes fact and belief sit far apart, making for whole rows of decisions that fly in the face of reality. In Kenya, gender is one of those ‘myth’ spots, which I only know based on the heat of the discussions in my office about the number of women in Kenya. My highly educated team assert that there are many more women in Kenya than men.

In fact, there aren’t. In 2016, the World Bank estimated the proportion of women in Kenya as 50.3 per cent of the population, which gives us one extra woman for every 150 men, as in 151 to 150.It’s not a whole weight of extra women. Women then represent rather less than half the labour force, at around 48.5 per cent

Yet one area where the difference between men and women is huge is in what they get paid. According to research presented at the World Economic Forum last year, women in Kenya get paid Sh55 for every Sh100 that men get paid for doing the same work.

I can vouch as an employer that few of us are thinking, ‘Oh, I know, let’s pay the women less’. However, a gap of close to double cannot be ignored. So what is going on?

According to Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, who is stirring followings of hundreds of thousands - and some passionate controversy too - on gender issues, a core driver is the role of the female trait of ‘agreeableness’.

Psychologists break down personality traits into five broad areas, across extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to experience, and agreeableness.

Measure that mix and, apparently, you get a fair map of a whole personality. In fact, agreeableness is a pretty nice personality trait to have. Someone who is highly agreeable is usually warm, friendly, and tactful, and women are far more agreeable then men, globally and universally, say the psychologists. Yet, as Peterson observes, agreeableness is not a good predictor of success commercially.

Taken out of psychologists’ jargon what that means is that highly agreeable people tend to earn less. They are less pushy about salary raises.

They are happier and more optimistic about life in general, and less likely to be discontents clamouring for greater reward. Which has made assertiveness training one of his top three jobs as a clinical psychologist, he claims.

In fact, he also has a theory that one of the reasons women are so poorly represented in top jobs, almost everywhere on the globe, is because they actually don’t want them.

In Kenya, gender equality is rated at close to the bottom of the world’s equality scores, with Kenya coming in as the 122nd country out of 152 in gender equality.

So little surprise then that, despite our laws and constitution, women still only account for 19.9 per cent of our parliamentarians. But the scarcity of women in top jobs is universal.

The UK, which is a poor performer on gender equality within Europe, is nonetheless far higher in the rankings at 53rd globally. Yet of the country’s most prestigious FTSE 100 companies, only seven are run by women – and thus, obviously, 93 by men.

A core reason, claims Peterson, is that getting to the top requires drive and a willingness to focus on just one thing, sacrificing many days of leisure and pleasure along the way, as well as many personal relationships. It’s tough, competitive, and no-one is just going to roll over to give a woman a top job.

So if women want their ‘dues’, if they want to earn the same, and even lead, they have to get tougher, and more insistent. It doesn’t mean sacrificing their warmth, tact or compassion. But it does mean learning to ask, learning to push and getting a lot more competitive. Is it what women want? That’s a personal decision.

But if that Sh55 to Sh100 is anything to go by, women in Kenya’s labour force really need to get quite a lot more demanding. Not emotional, says Peterson, that goes badly. But just firm – about money.For they’re worth more for that work. The proof is in what men are paid to do the same.