Influence of Gender Based Violence on Female Employees’ Performance: Case of Flower Farms In Juja, Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of gender-based violence on employee performance in the workplace, a case of flower farms workforce. Gender-based violence at the workplace has various negative influences on job performance: employee underperformance, job dissatisfaction, and generally low productivity of the victims of gender-based violence. The general objective of the study was to find out the influences of gender-based violence on employee performance in flower farms in Juja. The specific objectives were to; establish the influence of physical violence on employee performance in flower farms in Juja Kiambu County; determine the influence of sexual violence on employee performance in flower farms in Juja Kiambu County; and find out the influence of socio-economic violence on employee performance in flower farms in Juja Kiambu County. This study employed a descriptive research survey design to collect and analyze the data. The population for this study consisted of 181 female employees working in seven flower farms in Juja Kiambu County. The study used stratified random sampling to select 125 female workers in the targeted flower farms. The Yamane sampling formula was used to compute the sample size. A self-administered questionnaire was used as a data collection method that was used to collect primary data. A pilot study was conducted using 13 women employees in Penta Flower Farm located in Thika so that it excluded the targeted population to avoid bias. A letter of transmittal was sought from the university and NACOSTI permit to allow for data collection. The data was descriptively and inferentially analyzed using SPSS. The study applied simple linear regression to test the study hypothesis. The study findings indicated that physical violence had a negative but insignificant influence on employee performance at flower farms in Juja, Kiambu County (β = -0.077, t = -1.343, p = 0.182). Besides, the study findings determined that sexual violence significantly negatively influenced employee performance at flower farms in Juja, Kiambu County (β = -0.236, t = - 3.167, p = 0.002). Moreover, the research findings indicated that socio-economic violence significantly negatively affected employee performance at flower farms in Juja, Kiambu County (β = -0.323, t = -3.062, p = 0.003). The study concludes that physical violence is not instrumental or adversarial to employee performance at flower farms in Juja, Kiambu County, Kenya. This study also concludes that sexual violence had adverse effects on employee performance at flower farms in Juja, Kiambu County. Additionally, the study concludes that socio-economic violence was adversarial toward employee performance at flower farms in Juja, Kiambu County. The study recommends that the management of flower farms adopt and execute policies to ensure that female employees are treated equitably as their male counterparts in the flower farms. Furthermore, the management in flower farms should have processes to eliminate the few cases where women experienced physical abuse in flower farms to ensure that female workers do not experience any threat or occurrence of physical violence against them. The study further recommends to management in flower farms to adopt and implement policies to ensure that incidences of sexual violence in the flower farms are eliminated. Lastly, the study recommends that management cultivate a culture aimed at eradicating forms of socio-economic violence such as social discrimination of female employees, discrimination of female employees in employment possibilities, and discrimination concerning training opportunities.