Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.8, No.25, 2017 127 Women in School Leadership Positions: What Are the Contraining Variables in Kibwezi Sub-County, Makueni County, Kenya? Daudi Josephine Kanini 1 Joseph Mutungwa 2 John Aluko Orodho 3 1.Head of Language Department at Ngoto Boys High School, former postgraduate student at Moi University and currently a doctorate student at SEKU, Kenya 2.headteacher at Uvileni Primary School and doctoral Student at SEKU, Kenya 3.Associate Professor of Educational Research and Statistics at the Department of Educational Management, Policy and Curriculum Studies, School of Education, Kenyatta University, Kenya Abstract This study sought to investigate factors influencing women access to school leadership and variables hindering their effective participation in school leadership. The study adopted the survey research design, guided by the reproduction labour theory. Stratified, purposive and simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 101 participants. The research instruments used to collect data were the questionnaires, interview schedules and document analysis. The research instruments were tested for content validity and reliability. The reliability test using a Cronbach alpha yielded a coefficient 0.7 considered to be appropriate for the study. Quantitative data from questionnaires were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences to generate descriptive statistics. Qualitative data from interview guidelines were analyzed using narrative and grounded theory and reported thematically. The study established that there were multifarious and intertwined variables such as family responsibilities, socio- cultural factors, fear to transfer to other schools and lack of role models, which hindered women from participating in school leadership. It is therefore recommended that strict enforcement of gender policy, gender responsive recruitment practices, and creation of more girls’ and mixed schools to facilitate rapid girl- child access to quality education. Keywords: School leadership, constraining variables, Kibwezi Sub-County, Kenya 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study In both developed and developing countries, educationists and researchers have attempted to analyze the persistence of a gender discrepancy in education and particularly at higher education administrative levels through varied lenses and approaches ( Acker, 2011; Ladson-Billings, 2009;). Some researchers have examined this issue by using structural perspectives (Johnsrud & Heck, 1998), socio-cultural perspectives (Lee, 2001; Ramanan et al., 2006), or even multiple perspectives (Oplatka, 2006; Lam, 2009; Nguyen, 2013). Scholars such as Eagly and Wood (2011), Madsen (2008) and other prominent writers such as Oplatka (2006) who focus on women’s experiences in higher education have presented more reasonable insights on the gender inequality in administrative positions. As a result, researchers in all tiers of education agree generally that women who aspire to top management positions navigate paths full of ‘twists and turns’ (Gray,2011; Iverson,2011). It is against this backdrop that this paper was premised with the view to determine the main variables hindering women’s accent to school leadership positions in Kibwezi Sub-County, Makueni County, Kenya. 1.2 State of Art Review Literature is prolific which attempts to describe some of the critical impediments to women’s promotion to school leadership positions. Based on such array of literature, scholars have used numerous terms to describe ‘twists and turns’ as the barriers related to women’s development (Morley,2013). During the reviews of literature, two terms are prominent; ‘Glass ceiling’ and ‘Labyrinth’. The most usually used term is the ‘glass ceiling’ (Glazer-Raymo, 2001). The glass ceiling seems to be a widespread phenomenon that explains why women, despite of their qualifications and abilities cannot progress to the top administrative positions of higher education administration worldwide (Umbach, 2006; Beck, 2008; Lam, 2009). Eagly and Carli (2007) used another key term ‘labyrinth’ to explain the circuitous paths that women have to navigate in order to achieve top positions in societies. They argued that many women are able to break the ceiling and make it to the top-level positions. Although the paths exist, but the barriers have become more invisible and more difficult to detect; thus, they named the path to achievement a labyrinth. The foregoing notwithstanding, research studies indicate that women continue to aspire for leadership positions in education institutions worldwide to provide a gendered perspective on educational change and development (Blackwood & Brown,2011; Group,2011). This is evidenced by the principle of equality of men and women which was first recognized in 1945 in the United Nations Charter, and subsequently in the Universal brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by International Institute for Science, Technology and Education (IISTE): E-Journals