Hindrances to Women Advancing to Principals’ Decision Making Positions in Secondary Schools in Kenya: Evidence of Convergence and Divergence Views among Current Male and Female Principals

Abstract

The study set out to investigate the views of current female and male secondary school principals regarding barriers or hindrances to women teachers becoming secondary school principals in a County in Kenya. The study employed a quantitative survey approach and involved 18 female and 22 male principals who were purposively selected from forty secondary schools. Questionnaires were used to collect data. The resulting data was analysed using the SPSS (Software package for social science). The study findings indicate that while there was some degree of convergence among female and male principals, there also existed a wide range of divergence views among female and male principals in regarding factors that hinder women teachers from becoming secondary school principals, among the schools that took part in this study. The study concludes that barriers or hindrances to women advancement into educational leadership were differentially perceived between female and male secondary principals. One recommendation is that a large scale study was necessary in order to develop a full understanding of both male and female principals perceptions regarding factors that hindered women from advancing to leadership positions in secondary schools in Kenya.