NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 28 – Women continued to account for the larger share of employment in Kenya’s regulated SACCO sector in 2025, with their numbers growing faster than those of men during the year, according to the SACCO Supervision Annual Report 2025.
The number of female employees rose to 6,698 in 2025 from 6,181 in 2024, an increase of 517 employees, or 8.4 percent.
Male employees increased from 5,824 to 6,139, representing growth of 315 employees, or 5.4 percent.
The faster growth among women increased their share of the workforce to 52.18 percent in 2025, up from 51.49 percent in 2024.
Men’s share consequently declined from 48.51 percent to 47.82 percent.
The increase in female employment also marked a faster pace of growth compared with the previous year.
Between 2023 and 2024, the number of female employees increased by 74, or about 1.2 percent, while male employees grew by 48, or 0.8 percent.
“It is noted that the female employees continue to dominate the employment statistics in the Regulated SACCO industry with 52.18% of all employees in 2025, which was a slight increase from a proportion of 51.49% of all employees in 2024,” the report said.
“Conversely, the proportion of male employees declined to 47.82% in 2025, from a proportion of 48.51% of all employees for the period ended December 2024.”
The trend was also reflected in senior management, although gains in female representation were less consistent.
Women accounted for 36.90 percent of chief executive officer positions in 2025, up from 33.33 percent in 2024, while men’s share fell from 66.67 percent to 63.10 percent.
The increase followed a decline in female CEO representation between 2023 and 2024, when the proportion fell from 34.50 percent to 33.33 percent.
Male representation moved in the opposite direction during the period, rising from 65.50 percent to 66.67 percent before declining in 2025.
Despite the improvement, men continued to hold the majority of CEO positions, indicating that the stronger representation of women across the wider SACCO workforce has not yet translated into parity at the highest management level.
