In a cramped, windswept single room tucked between makeshift shanties and dusty paths in Nairobi’s Baba Dogo informal settlement, 32-year-old Agnes Wayua begins her day long before sunrise.

She prepares breakfast for her two young daughters before they leave for school, then sets off for Roysambu, over six kilometres away, where she cleans Airbnb units for a friend.

For each house, she earns Sh200. On good days, she may clean three; on others, none. When there’s no work, she lingers around the estate as a mama fua (laundry lady) before walking home on tired feet and empty pockets.

Agnes is the sole provider in her household—one of millions of women across Kenya navigating economic survival alone. “I never imagined doing this without a husband. But when he died, there was no one else,” she says quietly, her hands calloused by years of menial labour.

Across the country, female-headed households, such as Agnes’s face disproportionately high poverty levels.

According to the recent Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), 35.3 per cent of households led by women live below the poverty line, compared to 32.6 per cent of those led by men.

Gladys Waniku Maina inside her polythene paper wrapped shanty along Mathare river after her house was demolished recently in Mathare slums for being in a riparian land in a picture taken on June 13,2024. Those living below a dollar want prices of of basic food commodities reduced as Kenyans are already hurting economically.

While the gap may appear narrow, its implications are profound, especially in rural areas where access to land, infrastructure, and services is already limited.

The gender gap in poverty. 

Kenya’s poverty landscape reveals a nation entangled in structural inequities. The KNBS survey shows that approximately 39.8 per cent of Kenyans (over 20 million people) struggle to meet basic needs. But when poverty is filtered through gender, age, marital status, and geography, a sharper, more troubling image emerges.

“Women, especially in rural settings, often face systemic barriers, such as limited access to land, credit, and education, which exacerbate their vulnerability to poverty. Addressing these disparities requires targeted interventions that empower women economically and socially,” explains Jacinta Ndanu, a gender and development specialist.

Age significantly influences poverty levels. Households headed by individuals aged 70 and above have the highest poverty rate at 46 per cent, particularly in rural areas. In contrast, younger household heads, such as those aged 15 to 19 and 20 to 29, exhibit lower poverty rates of 23.8 per cent and 23.4 per cent, respectively.

"The elderly often lack access to sustainable income sources and healthcare, making them more susceptible to poverty,” notes Jacinta. “Policies should focus on providing social safety nets and healthcare access for older populations,” she adds.

Marriage, widowhood, and economic disadvantage

Marital status also plays a crucial role in poverty levels. Households led by individuals in polygamous marriages are 1.5 times more likely to be poor compared to those in monogamous unions, with poverty rates of 48 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively. Widow-headed households face a nine percentage point higher poverty rate than widower-headed ones.

“In polygamous setups, resource allocation can be uneven, leading to economic strain. Widows, particularly in rural areas, often lack support systems, pushing them deeper into poverty,” observes Mary Kilena, a community development worker in Kajiado County.

 “In our community, when a man dies, it’s not unusual for his widow to be excluded from land inheritance due to entrenched cultural norms. Even where legal documents exist, the woman often faces pressure from in-laws or clan elders to vacate the land or forfeit any claim to property. One mother of two, after losing her husband, was forced to move out of her matrimonial home and now lives on borrowed land, doing laundry for income and relying on well-wishers to keep her children in school,” she shares.

Geographic location remains a significant determinant of poverty. Rural areas exhibit higher poverty rates, with 38 per cent of rural households compared to 26 per cent in urban areas. Counties, such as Turkana, Mandera, and Samburu, have some of the highest poverty rates, exceeding 70 per cent.

“The rural-urban divide in poverty levels underscores the need for inclusive development policies. Investing in infrastructure, education, and healthcare in rural areas can bridge this gap,” states Dr Esther Muthoni, an economist.

Resilience amid crisis

Despite the bleak statistics, community-based solutions are offering hope. Women’s savings groups have sprung up in the city and in the villages, pooling resources to support small businesses and share childcare duties. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have launched programmes aimed specifically at empowering female heads of households through vocational training and microloans.

One such programme, Eve’s Dream Safe Haven, helped 36-year-old Maria Waithera from Banana in Kiambu County, another single mother in the nearby county, find her feet in the tumultuous sea of parenthood. “I want my son to finish school. I never got the chance,” she says.

She dreamt of starting her own vegetable stall, but has been denied a small business loan twice due to lack of collateral.

“A friend of mine invited me to a weekly meetup where mothers in my condition meet and are helped to get a fresh start. After giving birth, I developed post-partum depression, but I did not know what was wrong with me. I got entangled in drinking, which I thought would give me solace. I left my son with my mother and it only got worse. However, one year later, the friend came to my rescue and although fighting addiction was really hard, once I sobered up, I never looked back,” she tells The Nairobian.

“It was the first time I felt I had control over my life,” she says, smiling proudly beside her kibanda.

In many informal settlements, such as Kibera, Mathare, and Mukuru kwa Njenga, women-headed households are forced to survive on unstable, informal jobs, such as washing clothes, vending food, or scavenging through waste for recyclables.

“These jobs offer little or no job security, and the daily income often falls below Sh300, which is not enough to cover basic needs, such as food, rent, or school fees. In addition, these women bear the full burden of caregiving and housework, further limiting their ability to pursue more stable opportunities,” says Annitah Mbugua, Co-founder of Eve’s Dream Safe Haven, an initiative covering Kiambu and adjacent counties.

Moreover, the pressure on these women to ‘hustle’ without structural support reinforces a cycle of informal, low-paying, and often exploitative work, think of domestic labour, hairdressing, street vending, or cleaning jobs that pay poorly and lack security.

“If we are serious about tackling urban poverty, we must begin by listening to and investing in these women. Gender-responsive urban policies are no longer optional; they are essential. This includes affordable childcare, accessible healthcare, housing programmes that prioritise single mothers, and targeted economic empowerment that does not assume a male-headed household model,” she says.

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Kenya’s poverty landscape is multifaceted, influenced by gender, age, marital status, and geographic location. Addressing these disparities requires comprehensive policies that consider the unique challenges faced by different demographic groups.

As policymakers and development agencies tackle national poverty, experts emphasise the need to tailor interventions specifically for female-headed households, especially in rural areas where systemic disadvantages are most severe.

Systems that fail women

Edward Ndari, a community mobiliser with Shining Hope for Communities (Shofco), opines that Female-led households often suffer from institutionalised gender inequality, adding that as the nation strives for equitable development, targeted interventions and inclusive policies will be crucial in lifting the most vulnerable populations out of poverty.

“Legal, financial, and social systems frequently undervalue women’s labor, deny them property rights, and restrict their access to credit or inheritance. Unless policies explicitly dismantle these patriarchal norms, they will continue to reinforce inequality rather than alleviate it,” he points out.

Edward says there is policy design disconnect, with many policies being designed without adequately engaging the lived experiences of female household heads.

“This leads to interventions that do not match their actual needs, such as access to quality childcare, land rights, or flexible employment opportunities. For instance, cash transfers may be offered without considering barriers, such as lack of ID, digital illiteracy, or inaccessible distribution mechanisms,” he says.

“To break the cycle of poverty among female-headed households, we must shift from reactive policies to preventive strategies, investing in girls’ education, reproductive health, and livelihoods before crisis strikes,” he adds.

A sociological reckoning

“From a sociological perspective, these numbers are not just figures, they reflect deeply embedded structural inequalities that disproportionately affect women who head households, many of whom are widowed, divorced, separated, or single mothers. These women are often managing the dual burden of caregiving and income generation with little to no support from state systems, communities, or markets,” says Dr Catherine Gachutha, a psychosocial counsellor.

Dr Gachutha says the issues become more adverse from urban to rural settings as access to decent work, healthcare, and education is more limited, and traditional gender roles often persist more strongly.

“Female heads of households in these areas are more likely to lack land ownership, control over resources, or access to credit, key assets that buffer against poverty. Additionally, they typically spend more hours on unpaid care work, further limiting their ability to engage in paid labour,” she states.

Dr Gachutha says there is a need for a more intersectional approach, one that recognises how gender, geography, and socioeconomic status interact to deepen poverty.

“Social protection systems must be reimagined to support caregivers, promote women’s asset ownership, and address unpaid labour. Community-based support networks and gender-responsive budgeting are also critical tools,” she says.

“Until we acknowledge the gendered dynamics of poverty and build responses that reflect this complexity, the cycle will continue, especially for the millions of women struggling to hold households together in the margins of the national economy,” she says in ending.