Career Mobility Of Women Administrators In Public Secondary Schools In Kirinyaga County, Kenya

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that affect the mobility of women to administrative positions in public secondary schools in Kirinyaga County. The study was guided by the following objectives: To establish the effect of cultural factors such as gender roles on mobility of women administrators in secondary schools in Kirinyaga County. Moreover, personal and organizational factors and their effect on mobility of women administrators in secondary schools in Kirinyaga were also part of the objectives. The population of this study was male and female Principals, deputy principals and head of department of the public secondary schools in the entire Kirinyaga County. They were randomly selected using the stratified random sampling method. Out of the possible 1000 administrators, a total of 227 were selected. The research instrument was a self-constructed questionnaire that was mailed to the respondents. It was designed to collect information related to factors that affect mobility of women administrators in public schools in Kirinyaga County. Descriptive Statistics was used to describe the profile of the respondents. This includes their personal factors, cultural factors and organizational factors that influence the mobility pattern of female administrators. The data gathered were analyzed using statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS).Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation was used to analyze data. The analyzed data were then presented in form of frequency tables, bar graphs and pie charts. The study found that cultural factors cause gender in balance in education mobility of women administrators in public schools in Kirinyaga County. This was evidenced by the findings that majority of the respondents indicated that female teachers were few in the school management positions. The study also found that personal factors have an impact on mobility of women administrators in public schools in Kirinyaga County. Organizational factors had a moderate effect on gender imbalance in education administration among teachers as indicated by the respondents. The study therefore concluded that cultural factors, personal factors and organizational factors all had an impact on mobility of women administrators in public schools in Kirinyaga County. The study recommended that female teachers should share gender roles with their spouses to allow them to rise in to the leadership positions in schools. The researcher recommends further research to be done to carry out a detailed survey on how successful female administrators overcome the barriers and attain their career goals.