When Will It Be Our Turn to Lead? An Evaluation of Women's Perceptions on Barriers to Access the Top Positions in Educational Institutions' Leadership in Kenya

Nason Vundi

doi:10.37284/eajass.7.1.1917

Nason Vundi St. Paul’s University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37284/eajass.7.1.1917

Keywords: Leadership, Gender Disparity, Masculinity, Femininity, Change Agent, Promotion

Share Article:

Abstract

This study evaluated women's perceptions of barriers to accessing the top positions in organisations' leadership in Kenya. The study had 3 specific objectives: to determine the women leaders' perceptions of the barriers to accessing top organisational leadership in Kenya; to establish how much support women leaders get in their attempt to access top organisational leadership in Kenya; to investigate the barriers women leaders face in their attempt to access top organisational leadership positions in Kenya. The research was a descriptive study preferred because it provides a comprehensive and accurate picture of the study subjects and to describe the inherent relationships, patterns, and trends demonstrated by the data analysed. The study findings were: women progression to top offices has not been easy, for example over 55% of the female Deputy Principals had stagnated for over 10 years in the same position without promotion. According to the study, about 22% of the respondents blamed patriarchy and gender stereotypes for their lack of promotion. Finally, the study found that family roles remains critical for the respondents. For example, 44% feared that promotion may result being sent far from home, while 39% did not apply for promotions due to family roles

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Acevedo-Duque, Á., Gonzalez-Diaz, R., Vargas, E.C., Paz-Marcano, A., MullerPérez, S., Salazar-Sepúlveda, G., et al. (2021). Resilience, leadership and female entrepreneurship within the context of SMEs: evidence from Latin America. Sustainability 13, 8129. doi: 10.3390/su13158129

Agarwal, S., Lenka, U., Singh, K., Agrawal, V., and Agrawal, A. M. (2020). A qualitative approach towards crucial factors for sustainable development of women social entrepreneurship: Indian cases. J. Clean. Prod. 274, 123135. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123135

Almeshref, Y., & Khwanda, H. (2022). Information Systems Effect on Enabling Knowledge Management. International Journal of Professional Business Review, 7(5), e0834-e0834.

Benmira S, Agboola M (2021). Evolution of leadership theory. BMJ Leader 2021; 5:3-5.

Berg, S. T. S., Grimstad, A., Škerlavaj, M., and Černe, M. (2017), "Social and economicleader–member exchange and employee creative behaviour: The role of employee willingness to take risks and emotional carrying capacity", European Management Journal, Vol. 35, No. 5, pp.676-687.

Bressan V, Bagnasco A, Aleo G (2021). Mixed‐methods research in nursing-a critical review. J Clin Nurs 2017;26(19- 20):2878-90. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.13631

Bulmer, E., Riera, M., and Rodríguez, R. (2021). The importance of sustainable leadership amongst female managers in the Spanish logistics industry: a cultural, ethical and legal perspective. Sustainability 13, 6841. doi: 10.3390/su13126841

Chamberlain, P. (2017). The Feminist Fourth Wave: Affective Temporality. Palgrave Macmillan, London.

Cicchiello, A. F., Fellegara, A. M., Kazemikhasragh, A., and Monferrà, S. (2021). Gender diversity on corporate boards: How Asian and African women contribute to sustainability reporting activity. Gender Manag. 36, 801–820. doi: 10.1108/GM-05-2020-0147

Creswell J.W. (2014). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. 4th ed. London: Sage Publication

Day, K., & Wray, R. (2018). Fourth-wave Feminism and Postfeminism: Successes and Failures. Transform: A Journal of the Radical Left, 4, 113-137.

Drzewiecka, M., and Roczniewska, M. (2018), "The relationship between perceived leadership styles and organisational constraints: An empirical study in Goleman's typology", European Review of Applied Psychology, Vol. 68, No. 4-5, pp. 161-169.

Donmez, Sena & Celikel, Asli. (2023). Gender Equality And Empowerment For Companies: An Exploratory Case From Turkiye To Achieve United Nations S Sustainability Goal. Pressacademia. 10.17261/Pressacademia.2023.1777.

Francis, B. B., Hasan, I., Shen, Y. V., and Wu, Q. (2021). Do activist hedge funds target female CEOs? The role of CEO gender in hedge fund activism. J. Financ. Econ. 141, 372–393. doi: 10.1016/j.jfineco.2020. 07.019

Galletta, S., Mazzù, S., Naciti, V., and Vermiglio, C. (2022). Gender diversity and sustainability performance in the banking industry. Corpor. Soc. Respons. Environ. Manag. 29, 161–174. doi: 10.1002/csr.2191

Gemeda, H. K., and Lee, J. (2020), "Leadership styles, work engagement and outcomes among information and communications technology professionals: A cross-national study", Heliyon, Vol. 6, No. 4, e03699.

Issa, A., Zaid, M. A. A., and Hanaysha, J. R. (2021). Exploring the relationship between female director's profile and sustainability performance: evidence from the Middle East. Manag. Decis. Econ. doi: 10.1002/mde.3503. [Epub ahead of print].

Jain, S. (2020). The Rising Fourth Wave: Feminist Activism and Digital Platforms in India. ORF Issue Brief No. 384, Observer Research Foundation.

Kenya Gazette (2010). Kenya Government Press

Khushk, Amir & Zengtian, Zhang & Hui, Yang. (2022). Role of female leadership in corporate innovation: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship. 8. 1754-2413. 10.1108/GM-01-2022-0028.

Kipkosgei, Evelyn. (2023). Breaking the Glass Ceiling In Kenya: Defining Attributes Of Trailblazing Women in Higher Education Leadership Positions. International Journal of Social Science and Economics Invention. 9. 10.23958/ijssei/vol09-i02/348.

Lay, Kathy & Daley, James. (2007). A Critique of Feminist Theory. Advances in Social Work. 8. 10.18060/131.

Machokoto, Michael & Lemma, Tesfaye & Dsouli, Ouarda & Fakoussa, Rebecca & Igudia, Eghosa. (2023). Coupling men-to-women: Promoting firm innovation in emerging markets. 10.1002/ijfe.2842.

Mohajan, Devajit & Mohajan, Haradhan. (2022). Feminism and Feminist Grounded Theory: A Comprehensive Research Analysis. 11. 45-61. 10.26458/jedep.v11i3.774.

Ondicho, T. G. (2021) The Economic Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Women's Empowerment in Kenya. Pathways to African Feminism- A Journal of the African Studies Centre, 6 (2): 104-116.

Oyebanji, O., Okereke, E. (2023). Empowering African women leaders is key to health equity. Nat Hum Behav 7, 839–841 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01603-y

Pierli G, Murmura F and Palazzi F (2022) Women and Leadership: How Do Women Leaders Contribute to Companies' Sustainable Choices? Front. Sustain. 3:930116. doi: 10.3389/frsus.2022.930116

Poltera, Jacqui (2019) Exploring examples of women's leadership in African contexts, Agenda, 33:1, 3-8, DOI: 10.1080/10130950.2019.1602977

Ribeiro Hoffmann, Andrea. (2019). Women in Leadership in Latin American Regionalism. Desafíos. 31. 349. 10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/desafios/a.6819.

Rukmana, Ovalia & Suminar, Ratna & Bhakti, Shema. (2023). Women's Leadership in Crisis: Responding to Future Challenges. 10.1007/978-981-99-3098-2_16.

Singh, U. (2022). An exploratory investigation of women leadership in developing economies with special reference to India. International Journal of

Titi Amayah, Angela & Haque, Md. (2017). Experiences and Challenges of Women Leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa. Africa Journal of Management. 3. 1-29. 10.1080/23322373.2017.1278663.

Yahaya, R. and Ebrahim, F. (2016), "Leadership styles and organisational commitment: a literature review", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 190-2016, doi: 10.1108/ JMD-01-2015-0004.

Yaseen, S. G., Al-Janaydab, S., and Alc, N. A. (2018), "Leadership Styles, absorptive capacity and Firm's innovation", International Journal of Knowledge Management (IJKM), Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 82-100.

Younas A, (2019). Pedersen M, Tayaben JL. Review of mixed methods research in nursing. Nurs Res 2019;68(6):464-72. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNR.0000000000000372 PMid:31693552

Wilkinson, J., & Male, T. (2023). Perceptions of women senior leaders in the UK Higher

Education during the COVID- 19 pandemic. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/17411432221150079

World Bank (2020). Kenya Economic Update: Turbulent Times for Growth in Kenya – Policy Options during the Covid-19 Pandemic.