The Role of Women in Higher Education in Kenya: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Women play an important role in societies especially in education. However, in many Kenyan's communities' traditional perspective of women is seen as inferior to men continue to prevail as many people invoke the preservation of African culture to justify the subordination of women. This research paper is basically conducted to find out the role of women participation in university management in Kenya. Secondary data was collected from one public university and one private university randomly selected. The study talks about ten (10) male managers (heads of department's deans, two D/V/C, and two (V/C) six (6) women managers (deans, heads of department). The sample was selected through the random sample method for both women and male managers. The percentage ratios show the picture of the role of women in higher education in the selected universities in Kenya. The finding from study reveals that the women participation in university management is below the recommended thirty percent (30%) of gender representation in Kenyan constitution.