ABSTRACT

In Kenya, available information show that most schools are headed by male teachers.

At Kathiani Sub County in Machakos County, 14 schools are headed by female

principals out of the 31 public secondary schools. The purpose of this study was

therefore to establish the influence of socio-cultural factors on female principals’

participation in managerial duties in public secondary schools in Kathiani Sub-

County. Specifically the study sought to establish the influence of: gender stereotypes

on female principals’ participation in taking up managerial duties, family-work

balance conflict on female principals’ participation in managerial duties, gender

socialization practices on female principals’ participation in managerial duties and

career development on female principals’ participation in managerial duties in

Kathiani Sub-County. The target population for the study consisted of all the 14

female principals, 13 female deputy principals, and 159 female teachers from public

secondary schools in Kathiani Sub-County. The sample size was 127 respondents of

the target population. Descriptive research design was employed in this study in order

to address the study objectives. The research hypotheses were tested using simple

regression analysis at the .05 level of significance.The study findings revealed that

gender stereotypes do not statistically influence participation of female principals in

managerial duties (F (1,100) =2.07; p≥.05). Additionally, the study established that

family-work conflict significantly influenced the participation of female principals in

managerial duties, F (1,100) = 25.93; R= -.454; p ≤.05. Moreover, socialization

practices had a significant influence on female participation in managerial duties

within schools in the study area; F (1,100) = 28.192; p ≤.05; R= .469. Finally, the

study established that there was a significant influence of career development on

female principals’ participation in managerial duties, F (1,100) = 15.041; p ≤.05. The

study recommends that government policy of one-third gender rule be enforced

strictly so as to help in having more women appointed to leadership positions and act

as role models to students. Similarly the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) should

institute some in-service programmes aimed at educating female principals to strike a

balance between domestic chores and professional duties. Further, the Kenya Institute

of Curriculum Development (KICD) should reorient the school curriculum so that the

female story can be fairly presented without connotations that are likely to nurture

negative stereotypes and lastly, women should be provided with more opportunities

for in-service and networking through seminars and other refresher courses to enable

them develop career wise. It is hoped that the findings of this study will be beneficial

to education policy makers to help them in making decisions that will be aimed at

making female teachers participate actively in managerial duties at the national and

institutional levels.