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The Implications of the Adoption of a Model Sexual Harassment Policy Within the Flower Sector in Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2022

Mary Kuira Open the ORCID record for Mary Kuira [Opens in a new window]
Mary Kuira*
Affiliation:
Hivos East Africa, Nairobi, Kenya
*
*Corresponding author. Email: mkuira@hivos.org
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Extract

The Kenyan flower industry is one of the largest in the world and it is estimated to contribute around one per cent to Kenya’s gross domestic product (GDP).1 According to the Kenya Flower Council (KFC), Kenya exports about 70 per cent of its cut flowers for sale on the European market.2 Women constitute around 65 to 75 per cent of the workforce in the Kenyan flower industry, performing unskilled and poorly paid jobs.3 Female floriculture workers in Kenya experience high rates of sexual harassment (SH) and other forms of workplace violence.4 SH is deeply rooted in power imbalances between the parties involved, which can impact on the ability of the victim to resist or expressly indicate that the conduct is unwelcome. Such power imbalance can threaten victims into silence, resulting in incidences going unreported.5 According to a study on gender, rights and participation in the cut flower industry in Kenya, SH is particularly prevalent among women who are supervised by male managers.6 It was found that the persistence of SH is related to the hierarchical employment structure of floriculture companies, coupled with the lack of female managerial staff, both of which also prevented women from reporting incidences of SH.

Keywords

floriculturegender-responsivepolicysexual harassmentworkplace
Type
Developments in the Field
Information
Business and Human Rights Journal , Volume 7 , Issue 1: Special Issue: From Formalism to Feminism: Gender, Business and Human Rights , February 2022 , pp. 168 - 174
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

1 Jez Fredenburgh, ‘Made on Earth: The 4,000 Mile Flower Delivery’, BBC (2019), https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/made-on-earth/the-new-roots-of-the-flower-trade/ (accessed 24 August 2021).

2 Wainaina Wambu, ‘New EU Lockdowns Threaten to Wilt Kenya Flower Industry’s Full Bloom’, The Standard Newspaper (10 November 2020), https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/financial-standard/article/2001393296/new-eu-lockdowns-threaten-to-wilt-kenya-flower-industrys-full-bloom (accessed 23 December 2020).

3 Carla Henry and Jacqueline Adams, ‘Spotlight on Sexual Violence and Harassment in Commercial Agriculture: Lower and Middle Income Countries’, International Labour Office, Research Department Working Paper No. 31 (May 2018), https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---inst/documents/publication/wcms_630672.pdf (accessed 14 July 2021).

4 Susie Jacobs, Bénédicte Brahic and Marta Medusa Olaiya, ‘Sexual Harassment in an East African Agribusiness Supply Chain’ (2015) 26:3 The Economic and Labour Relations Review 393, 401; UN Women and International Labour Organization, Handbook: Addressing Violence and Harassment Against Women in the World of Work (2019), https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2019/addressing-violence-and-harassment-against-women-in-the-world-of-work-en.pdf?la=en&vs=4050 (accessed 23 December 2020).

5 Dolan, Catherine, Opondo, Catherine and Smith, Sally, ‘Gender, Rights and Participation in the Kenya Cut Flower Industry’, Natural Resources Institute Report 2768, SSR Project No. R8077 2002-4 (2012), 38–40, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/57a08d49ed915d622c0018d5/R8077a.pdf (accessed 25 October 2021)Google Scholar.

6 Ibid.

7 Human Rights Council, ‘Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework’, A/HRC/17/31 (21 March 2011) (UNGPs).

8 Convention Concerning the Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work, ILO Convention No. 190 (adopted on 21 June 2019, entered into force on 25 June 2019) (ILO Convention No. 190).

9 UN Women and International Labour Organization, note 4, 6.

10 Debra Efroymson, Women, Work, and Money: Studying the Economic Value of Women’s Unpaid Work and Using the Results for Advocacy (HeatBridge: 2010), https://healthbridge.ca/images/uploads/library/Gender_summary_report_final.pdf (accessed 8 April 2021).

11 UNGPs, note 7, principles 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 and 22; ILO Convention No. 190, note 8, arts 6, 9, 10 and 11.

12 Human Rights Council, ‘Gender Dimensions of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Report of the Working Group on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises’, A/HRC/41/43 (23 May 2019) (Gender Guidance).

13 ILO Convention No. 190, note 8. ILO Recommendation No. 206 and the accompanying Resolution on the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work (adopted on 21 June 2019).

14 Gender Guidance, note 12, 14, 18; ILO Convention No. 190, note 8, arts 4, 9 and 11.

15 Valerie Nelson and Anne M Tallontire, ‘Battle of Ideas: Changing Narratives and Power Dynamics in Private Standards Global Agriculture Value Chains’ (2014) 31:3 Agriculture and Human Values 481; Valerie Nelson et al, ‘Pathways of Transformation of Transgression? Power Relations, Ethical Space and Labour Rights in Kenyan Agri-Food Value Chains’ in Michael K Goodman and Colin Sage (eds.), Food Trangressions: Making Sense of Contemporary Food Politics (London: Routledge, 2014), 15.

16 Nelson and Tallontire, note 15.

17 Hivos, Baseline Study and Readiness Assessment for Mainstreaming of Results-Based Social Certification Systems in the Horticulture Sector in Kenya: Advancing Labour Rights through Results-Based Certification System (2018), https://hivos.org/assets/2021/02/Advancing-labour-rights-through-results-based-social-certification-system-2018-1.pdf (accessed 24 August 2021), 42–43.

18 Hivos, ‘Women@Work’, https://east-africa.hivos.org/program/womenatwork/ (accessed 24 August 2021); Hivos, Women Workers Rights in EU Legislation and Standards: Baseline Study Decent Work for Women (Hivos and True Price: 2016), https://www.hivos.nl/assets/2016/08/W@W-Women-workers-rights-in-EU-legislation-and-voluntary-standards.pdf (accessed 24 August 2021), 3.

19 International Labour Organization, ‘Decent Work’, https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/decent-work/lang--en/index.htm (accessed 29 December 2020).

20 Hivos, Stop Sexual Harassment Project: A Model Sexual Harassment Policy for the Flower Sector in Eastern Africa (Hivos: 2015), https://hivos.org/assets/2018/06/stop_sexual_harassment_project_0.pdf (accessed 14 April 2021), 6.

21 The Employment Act (No. II of 2007) Legal Notice No. 28 (2014), http://kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownloads/LegalNotices/2014/LN28_2014.pdf (accessed 21 July 2021); The Employment Act 2006: Acts Supplement No. 5 to The Uganda Gazette No. 36 Volume XCVIX (2006),

https://www.ulrc.go.ug/system/files_force/ulrc_resources/employment-act-2006.pdf (accessed 27 July 2021); New Labour Law of Ethiopia, Proclamation No. 1156/2019, Federal Negarit Gazette (2019),

https://www.mtalawoffice.com/images/upload/Labour-Proclamation-No_-1156-2019.pdf (accessed 27 July 2021).

22 Hivos, note 20.

23 Ibid.

24 Ibid.

25 ILO Convention No. 190, note 8, art 9.

26 Hivos, Footprints of Change (Hivos: 2020), https://east-africa.hivos.org/assets/2020/12/Footprints-of-Change-Web-Version.pdf (accessed 24 August 2021), 21.

27 Kenya Human Rights Commission, ‘Baseline and Readiness Assessment Report on Certification and Other Corporate Accountability Mechanisms’ (2019) (unpublished).

28 UN Women and International Labour Organization, note 4, 5–6.

29 Haki Mashinani, Late Blossoms! Time to Move Beyond Policy Statements to a Safeguarding Culture: A Baseline Study on the Implementation of the Model Sexual Harassment Policy in the Cut Flower Sector of Kenya: Experiences, Lessons and the Business Case (2020), https://hivos.org/assets/2021/02/Late_blossoms_baseline.pdf (accessed 24 August 2021).

30 Ibid.

31 UNGPs, note 7, principles 20, 22, 29, 30 and 31.

32 Charles F Manski, ‘Economic Analysis of Social Interactions’ (2000) 14:3 Journal of Economic Perspectives 115.

33 Geert Phlix et al ‘Decent Work for Women: End-Term Evaluation of the Citizen Agency Consortium Decent Work for Women Program’ (Article 19; iied; Hivos: 2020), https://hivos.org/assets/2020/10/ETE-Decent-Work-for-Women.pdf (accessed 24 August 2021), 58–59.

34 Faith Muiruri, ‘It is Thumbs-up for Women@Work Campaign as Flower Farms Put in Place Gender Sensitive Policies and Practices’, Kenyan Woman (4 November 2019), https://kw.awcfs.org/article/it-is-thumbs-up-for-womenwork-campaign-as-flower-farms-put-in-place-gender-sensitive-policies-and-practices/ (accessed 24 August 2021).

35 AfriCert, ‘About Us’, https://africertlimited.co.ke/ (accessed 24 August 2021).

36 Geert Phlix et al, note 33, 6, 58.