Factors Influencing Female Under-Representation in the Management of Public Primary Schools in Rigoma Sub-County, Nyamira County, Kenya

Abstract

Various studies around the world show that the majority of public primary schools are headed by male teachers. Despite these observations, no systematic study has been conducted to identify the factors that contribute to this challenge, particularly in the sub-district of Nyamira. The goal of the current study was to investigate the reasons behind the underrepresentation of women in the management of public elementary schools in Kenya's Nyamira County's Rigoma Sub-County. The goal of the study was to understand how social-cultural factors, academic achievement, and the importance of mentoring affect the underrepresentation of women in public primary school administration in Kenya's Rigoma Sub-County. A research design used for the current study was descriptive design. The target population for the current study comprised; 4 curriculum support officers, a sub-county education director, 280 female teachers, 200 male teachers, 24 schools and a sub-county quality assurance and standards officer. The schools were selected using cluster sampling design, purposive sampling design for head-teachers, simple random sampling procedure was used to sample teachers from sampled school. The sample size was; 18 head-teachers, 54 male teachers and 54 female teachers. The research tools are; Guide to interviews, observations, document analysis and questionnaires. The validity of the research tool was tested by providing two professionals to guide the researcher for validation. The test-retest approach was then employed to establish reliability. We gathered both primary and secondary data, which we then quantitatively and qualitatively assessed. The data were frequently analysed using descriptive statistics. Tables and figures are used to present the analyzed data. This study found that cultural issues such as religious beliefs, myths, culture and gender roles led to the underrepresentation of women in education management among teachers. The findings, which showed that the majority of respondents believed female primary school teachers held fewer leadership positions, are proof of this. The survey also discovered that because there aren't enough female role models to excite and inspire women, there aren't enough of them working in education management. Finally, this study finds that academic qualifications have a strong impact on the under-representation of women in leadership positions in public primary schools, as the majority of female teachers do not achieve the qualifications required for promotion and only hold P1 certificates. The study concluded that cultural problems, lack of mentors and low educational attainment led to the underrepresentation of women in education management among teachers. The study recommends increasing teachers' awareness of the impact of cultural factors in education to enable them to advance to leadership positions in schools. It also urges further investigation on the methods used by successful female administrators to overcome challenges and advance in their careers.