What Holds Girls Back? Gendered Barriers in TVET Curricula in Kitengela, Kenya

• In Event: International higher education I: policy, governance, and gender equity

Proposal

1. Research Problem
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has become a central strategy in Kenya’s response to persistently high youth unemployment. Promoting gender equality in TVET is critical not only for addressing unemployment but also for advancing women’s empowerment (Ngugi & Muthima, 2017). Yet, despite national commitments to gender equity, women remain significantly disadvantaged. The unemployment rate among women is more than twice that of men—a disparity greater than in neighboring East African countries (World Bank, 2025).
This study focuses on Kitengela, a rapidly expanding satellite city on the outskirts of Nairobi that continues to face high youth unemployment despite strong economic growth (County Government of Kajiado, n.d.). Within its transitional context—straddling rural and urban spaces and shaped by traditional gender norms alongside shifting labor market demands—the study examines whether gendered barriers in vocational education are being dismantled or remain entrenched.
Focusing on Kitengela’s leading TVET institution and its six partner secondary schools, this study explores how national gender mainstreaming policies in TVET intersect with everyday teaching and learning. It does so by analyzing vocational education textbooks used in secondary schools and conducting teacher interviews to examine how inequalities are reproduced or contested in classroom practices. The study further investigates educational practices at the TVET institution, focusing on how teachers and administrators either promote gender mainstreaming for female students or contribute to the persistence of additional barriers.
Specifically, this qualitative study asks: How are gendered barriers reproduced or challenged across textbooks, classrooms, and institutional practices in Kitengela’s TVET pipeline?

2. Literature Review
Bray-Collins et al. (2022) emphasize that TVET often functions as a site for reproducing gendered roles, reinforcing occupational segregation rather than dismantling it. However, systematic examinations of Kenya’s vocational curricula from a gender perspective remain scarce. Existing analyses of secondary textbooks in Kenya have focused primarily on history (Malelu-Gitau, 2023). A few studies have examined business studies textbooks (Bekele et al., 2022; Bekele, 2025), but mostly from the perspective of learning effectiveness.
Research on gender and TVET institutions in Kenya has largely relied on quantitative data, such as comparisons of socioeconomic outcomes by gender and training experience (Ogema et al., 2021). While valuable, these approaches leave a gap in understanding how gender is represented in vocational curricula and teaching materials, and how stakeholders themselves perceive and address gendered barriers in practice. Understanding how such obstacles are reproduced—and how educators and institutions respond to them—is critical to advancing gender equity in vocational education.

3. Data and Methods
My research employs qualitative methods, including document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and fieldwork. Data collection focuses on a government-registered TVET institution in Kitengela, which operates more than 10 vocational programs, as well as six local secondary schools. The institution’s partnership with these schools allows me to trace student transition pathways into TVET programs. Document analysis draws on (1) institutional policy documents to identify enrollment patterns, gender strategies, and program-specific constraints, and (2) government-approved vocational education textbooks used in the six schools to examine how gender stereotypes are embedded in text and illustrations.
To address the limitations of document analysis—which often lacks contextual depth (Merriam 1998)—the study incorporates semi-structured interviews with two teachers from local secondary schools, as well as two administrative staff and two instructors from the TVET institution. These conversations explore how gendered barriers, together with cultural norms, shape student pathways and classroom practice. Fieldwork at the TVET institution (August–October 2025) supports data triangulation through direct observation of vocational training delivery.

4. Preliminary Findings
Document analysis and staff interviews revealed that enrollment at the TVET institution remains highly gendered, with roughly 80% male and 20% female students. Women were concentrated in courses such as cosmetics and fashion, while men dominated heavy machinery, driving, and STEM-related programs. Although administrators noted a gradual shift in labor market perceptions—with women increasingly valued as “more responsible” and even preferred in traditionally male-dominated fields such as heavy machinery operation—concrete gender mainstreaming strategies at the institutional level remain absent. To address this gap, the institution hosts mentorship events where female alumni share career experiences. While a positive step, this initiative is limited in scope, targeting only current cohorts rather than promoting broader community-level change in attitudes and awareness.
TVET instructors similarly acknowledged the importance of integrating gender-responsive education into the curriculum, but admitted that they did not incorporate such considerations into their actual teaching practice. This disconnect reflects findings from prior studies (Ogema et al., 2021; Ngugi & Muthima, 2017), which note that while the government recommended gender mainstreaming strategies, institutions struggle to embed these guidelines in curricula, lesson plans, and practical training modules. The local evidence from Kitengela thus aligns with national-level observations of a persistent gap between policy rhetoric and classroom practice.
Preliminary analysis of current textbooks shows that content is largely theory- and skills-oriented, with little integration of gender mainstreaming. Illustrations reinforce stereotypes, with agriculture and metalwork mostly associated with male figures, while home science and art design are linked to female figures. The next phase of this study examines how secondary school teachers respond to—or reproduce—such gendered barriers in vocational education. Expected findings suggest that teachers are generally underprepared to guide students’ subject choices and career pathways. While some adopt informal strategies—such as encouraging female students to pursue non-traditional fields—systemic approaches remain limited. By collecting additional textbook samples and conducting teacher interviews, this phase will evaluate whether gendered barriers persist in the teaching materials and how well teachers are equipped to implement more inclusive pedagogical practices.

5. Significance
This study fills a critical empirical gap by analyzing vocational education textbooks in Kenya, which have been largely overlooked compared to other subjects. By examining textbook content alongside institutional practices, it reveals how gender mainstreaming policies often fail to translate into classroom realities. The case study of Kitengela further shows how local perceptions sustain gendered barriers in vocational education. The findings underscore the need for stronger institutional strategies and more gender-responsive teaching practices to ensure that TVET serves as an inclusive pathway to employment and empowerment.

Author

• Yura Oh, Stanford University