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Actual Progress or Stagnation? Exploring the State of Women's Education in Western Kenya

Wasike, Lyndah Naswa
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9464-0185
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1587162115060929

Abstract Details

2020, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, Cross-Cultural, International Education.
Female students in public, coeducational high schools in rural Kenya encounter a lot of challenges, and the majority obtain low grades in the national exams. Lack of impact after massive activism for gender equality via education raises questions about the quality of efforts that schools put in to help the girl child. This study examined the systematic approach of two coeducational high schools in Western Kenya's Kakamega County in promoting women's education. The study also analyzed in-depth the role of gender in the educational experiences of female students. Two coeducational schools took part in the study. One school has single-sex classrooms, and the other one has mixed-sex classrooms. To capture the educational experiences of female students, I interviewed eight female students, two teachers, and two principals. These female students also filled open-ended questionnaires to express themselves more freely. Rural-based, coeducational high schools in this study provide a variety of support services such as gender-specific advice to female students. Nevertheless, there is too much of a burden on principals and teachers of these schools to go above and beyond to provide fees, food, sanitary towels, learning materials, and uniforms to female students in need. Poverty immensely hampers girls’ education. The two coeducational schools need the government to employ more female teachers to act as role models to the girls and also to increase the funds it allocates them. On the role of gender in education, findings revealed that girls believe that their fellow girls do not take academics seriously, and neither do they provide much support and motivation. The likely cause of schoolgirls not performing well is that the majority look up to a man as a way of survival, and they do not work hard in class. These attitudes result from the way society socializes females. The articulation of masculine power and female subordination is rampant in a mixed-sex classroom. There is a dire need for a sensitization campaign to teach the local community the benefits of educating women. Also, this sensitization should be extended to female students to show them that they are equal to their male counterparts and that they have equal chances to excel academically to contribute to Kenya's workforce.
Bruce Collet, Dr. (Advisor)
Hyeyoung Bang, Dr. (Committee Member)
Christy Suzanne Galletta Horner, Dr. (Committee Member)
179 p.
African Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Education; Education Policy; Gender; Gender Studies; Literacy; Sub Saharan Africa Studies; Womens Studies
coeducational; counseling; culture; Cultural-Ecological Theory; gender equality; gender sensitive; Harambee; Luhya; Millennium Development Goals; minority; mixed-sex; peer pressure; school; single-sex; Swahili; women education

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Wasike, L. N. (2020). Actual Progress or Stagnation? Exploring the State of Women's Education in Western Kenya [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1587162115060929

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Wasike, Lyndah. Actual Progress or Stagnation? Exploring the State of Women's Education in Western Kenya. 2020. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1587162115060929.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Wasike, Lyndah. "Actual Progress or Stagnation? Exploring the State of Women's Education in Western Kenya." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1587162115060929

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1587162115060929
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This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.