Investigating the Working Conditions of Women in the Flower Farms in Thika Sub-county in Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

Kenya’s flower industry is one of the largest in the world and is a leading source of foreign exchange earnings and employment for female workers. It is estimated that females constitute more than three quarters of the workers in the flower farms in the country. However, recently, the sector has been criticised for inequitable and poor working conditions especially for female workers. The aim of this research project was to examine the working conditions of female workers in the flower farms in Thika, Sub-County in Kiambu County, Kenya. Specifically, the study explored the working conditions of women in the flower farms, the challenges women workers face in the flower farms and their coping strategies. A qualitative study involving 40 purposely selected female workers in four flower farms was undertaken in the month of September 2021. The two factor Herzeberg’s theory was used as a lens to understand how the working conditions of women in the flower farms impact on their motivation and dissatisfaction, the challenges female workers encounter in the flower farms and how they cope with them. The primary method of data collection at the study site was In-depth interviews complemented by Case narratives, Key Informant Interviews and analysis of secondary information from various published sources. The findings reveal that the female workers constitute a large majority of the workers in the flower farms and that they work under deplorable conditions characterised by poor physical work environment and terms of employment, inadequate supply of physical protective equipment (PPEs) and working tools and long working shifts. The study also established female workers in the flower farms face several challenges including sexual harassment, lack of training, long hours of hours of work without adequate compensation, inadequate supply of safety equipment and sanitation and hygiene facilities such as washrooms and rest areas, delayed and low wages/salaries, health hazards caused by chemicals and pesticides, inadequate physical protections, job insecurity, and denial of right to join a trade union. The study further indicated that female workers adopted diverse strategies to cope with the poor terms of work in the flower farms. These included starting their own micro-enterprises, labouring, joining women’s group either to facilitate saving or to enable them to borrow from micro-enterprise fund, working for others, temporary seasonal relocation to places where they can find alternative work and reliance on cash remittances from friends and relatives. The study suggests that for female workers in the flower farms to benefit and increase productivity there is an urgent need for social justice issues such as equal pay for equal work, occupational health, and safety issues, better working environment and terms of service, training, and right to join trade unions, to be addressed. It is thus important to encourage the establishment of trade unions and for stakeholders such as Civil Society Organizations to play their complementary roles to government when it comes to the implementation of advocacy around issues that are likely to complicate female workers suffering because of poor working conditions in the flower farms