Journalists urged to make women’s invisible work visible

A high-level media roundtable in Nairobi is pushing journalists to rethink how they report on gender equality.

The event, organized by Data2X with support from The Generation Foundation—brought together media, gender advocates, and policymakers.

Partners included the Office of the Women’s Rights Advisor, Media Council of Kenya, Kenya Editors’ Guild, and the Association of Media Women in Kenya.

The goal: to show how time use data can expose the unpaid care work women do—and how it impacts gender equality in Kenya.

At the center of the discussion was Kenya’s 2021 Time Use Survey—the first of its kind in Africa.

The survey revealed a major gap: women spend an average of four hours daily on unpaid care work. Men? Just 54 minutes.

These numbers highlight deep gender imbalances that are often invisible.

Winy Kamau, a data journalist and editor at Talk Africa, said the roundtable was eye-opening.

“As a data journalist, I’ve always appreciated the rigor behind collecting and visualizing data. But this session made me realize how powerful and accessible time use data can be even for non-technical storytellers,” Kamau said.

She said time use data turns abstract stats into real, human stories.

“This topic resonates with me as I currently serve as a caregiver. Seeing data that mirrors my own experience brought the issue closer to home,” she added.

Kamau is looking forward to the new Data2X Media Fellowship. She believes it will give journalists the tools to work better with gender data.

“It will be a game-changer. Journalists will gain skills to better interpret and visualize complex data sets—skills essential for effective gender-sensitive reporting.”

Masiga Asunza, Director of Programs at the Office of the Women’s Rights Advisor, stressed the need to value unpaid care work in Kenya’s economy.

“Regardless of her employment status or location, a woman spends significantly more time on unpaid care work than a man,” he said.

“That calls for urgent action—starting with re-evaluating our investments in social services and integrating women into macroeconomic planning.”

He pointed out that unpaid care work, mostly done by women, doesn’t show up in Kenya’s GDP.

Only 25% of contributions to GDP are measured, leaving out unpaid work, he said.

Asunza shared key findings from the survey:

• Women and girls (15+ years) spend 3 hours 36 minutes more per day on unpaid care and domestic work than men.
• Working women spend 4 hours and 12 minutes daily on unpaid work. Working men? Just 48 minutes.
• Girls aged 15–19 spend 3 hours 36 minutes on unpaid work. Boys in the same age group spend only 1 hour.
• Elderly women (65+) spend nearly 3 hours a day. Elderly men? Less than 1 hour.

“This imbalance denies women the opportunity to participate in training, education, or paid work. These statistics should be a call to action for everyone—from government to households,” he said.

Kenya is already moving forward. A draft National Care Policy is in development.

The country is also working to ratify ILO Conventions 181 and 189, focused on private employment agencies and protections for domestic workers.

The National Treasury is now beginning to factor in unpaid work in its economic calculations.

Florence Machio, Regional Communications and Advocacy Advisor for Africa at Data2X, explained the thinking behind the journalist-focused event.

“When KNBS released the Time Use Survey, we noticed a gap in the media’s understanding of what the data meant. So we asked: how can we help journalists, county by county,y see the connection between time use and development?” Machio said.

She said the training began in Mombasa and Kisumu due to limited funds. It has now expanded to Nairobi.

The next step? A year-long gender data fellowship, launching in August during the Women in Data Summit.

“Even though I come from a journalism background, I never used to enjoy numbers until I realized that without data, you can’t hold anyone accountable,” Machio said.

“Now I’m an advocate for using numbers to tell powerful stories.”

She added that Data2X has built strong partnerships with the Women’s Rights Advisor’s office, Early Childhood Development Network, Media Council of Kenya, Editors’ Guild, and AMWIK.

At the event, Heba Katoon, Senior Communications Manager at Data2X, said journalists are more than just storytellers.

“Despite the critical importance of time use data, it remains underreported in the media,” Katoon said.

“But journalists are more than messengers; they’re allies in the fight for gender equality. They have the power to spotlight the invisible.”

She emphasized that time use data is more than numbers.

“This isn’t just about data. It’s about the lives of women who carry the burden of unpaid work. Kenya is leading with its Time Use Survey and now the draft National Care Policy, and that should be celebrated.”

But she also issued a warning.

She said gender equality faces new threats in the digital age—from AI systems that ignore gender data to climate solutions that overlook women’s roles.

“If gender data disappears, so do women in policymaking and technology design. You can’t solve what you can’t see,” Katoon said.

As Data2X continues to push for gender data to guide development, climate action, and democracy, the message to the media is clear:

Journalists have a critical role in making gender inequality visible and impossible to ignore.

“When gender data is visible, gender inequality becomes impossible to ignore,” Katoon said.