Barriers to Female Leadership and their Influence on Women Inclusivity in Management of Public Primary Schools in Makueni County Kenya
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Date
2020
Authors
Kilonzo, Kezier S.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
There has been a notable gender gap in leadership and management positions
globally, regionally, nationally and locally in Makueni County. This has persisted
despite the many years of gender activism worldwide. Any unequal society cannot
boast of quality in its education system. Therefore this study sought to assess
“Barriers to female leadership and their influence on women‟ inclusivity in
management of public primary Schools in Makueni County”. The study was
guided by Liberal Feminist Theory as proposed by Bryson (1999). The objectives
of the study were; to identify the perception of teachers on the inclusion of female
teachers in public primary school management in Makueni County, to establish the
social-cultural barriers that hinder female teachers inclusion in management
positions in public primary schools of Makueni County, to identify the extent
which to policies and practices that govern recruitment, appointment and
promotion of primary school teachers hinder female teachers into management
positions in Makueni county and to find out the strategies for enhancing female
teachers‟ inclusion in management positions in public primary schools of Makueni
County. The target population of this study was 120 head teachers, 122 deputy
headteachers, 122 senior teachers and the 648 teachers giving a total of 1012
participants. Two head teachers and 10 teachers were chosen for piloting. The
study adopted a cross-sectional survey design. Makueni County was sampled
purposively while schools were sampled through stratified sampling. All teachers
were sampled through simple random sampling. Headteachers, deputies and senior
teachers were sampled through purposive sampling. The sample size was 132
respondents specifically, 16 headteachers, 16 deputy headteachers, 16 senior
teachers and 84 teachers. The sample size was 13% of the total target population.
Data was obtained by using questionnaires and interview schedule. The
instruments were pilot tested in two public primary schools to check their
comprehensiveness. The researcher used communicative validation to ensure
validity of the instruments. Expert judgement was sought to determine the content
validity of the instruments. Reliability of questionnaires was tested using the
internal consistency method. A Cronbach Alpha value of 0.6 was considered
sufficient. Quantitative data was coded and analyzed using Statistical Package for
Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.The specific statistics that were used were
frequencies and percentages and results presented in tables and charts. Qualitative
data was subjected to thematic analysis and results presented in narrations and
verbatim quotations. The major findings of this study ; social cultural barriers such
as stereotype and gender bias and failure to follow the policies that exist on gender
balance were confirmed as the main barriers that hinder women inclusivity in
management of public primary schools of Makueni county. The study also
established that seminars and workshops, women empowerment and education
awareness campaigns were the major strategies that could help overcome those
barriers. The study recommends that there is need to strictly adhere to gender
policies during recruitment and promotion of teachers, the ministry of education in
conjunction with the TSC to craft an affirmative action for the inclusion of women
teachers to leadership in Makueni County and the Makueni County government
and society to empress female leaders among the teaching fraternity and old
campaigns against gender stereotypes in order to include more women in
management positions.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the Department of
Educational Management, Policy and Curriculum
Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for
the Award of Master of Education Degree, School of
Education, Kenyatta University
Keywords
Female Leadership, Women Inclusivity, Public Primary Schools, Makueni County, Kenya