Gender disparity,recruitment and career development,a case of Nakuru Municipal Council

Abstract

In Kenya today, the employees in areas of recruitment and career development have experienced cases of gender disparity. Notably, women tend to be under-represented in middle and senior management positions. This tends to go against the dictates of EEO. The study sought to investigate the effects of gender disparity on recruitment and career development. Specifically, the objectives of the study was: - to establish the factors that contribute to unequal employment opportunities at Nakuru Municipal Council, to establish the causes of gender disparities on recruitment and career management, and to examine whether gender disparity is specific to the job grade. Stratified Random sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of 121 respondents from the junior, middle, and senior cadre who represented the seven departments at NMC.A structured questionnaire was then used as the main instrument for data collection. The study adapted a survey design whereby descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data with the help of the SPSS programme. Cross-Tabulation was used to relate the variables in the study hence establish the relationship between them. The study revealed that gender has no effect on recruitment but has an effect on career development. The study fimher revealed that gender disparity is not specific to the job grade. The researcher recommends that the Government through the Ministry of Local Govemment should point out the areas where policy measures could foster improvement and attention to EEO programmes and strategies to be used in implementing them by the Local Authorities.