ACTUAL PROGRESS OR STAGNATION? EXPLORING THE STATE OF WOMEN’S EDUCATION IN WESTERN KENYA Lyndah Naswa Wasike A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 2020 Committee: Bruce Collet, Advisor Hyeyoung Bang Christy Galletta Horner © 2020 Lyndah Wasike All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Bruce Collet, Advisor Female students in public, coeducational high schools in rural Kenya encounter a lot of challenges, and the majority obtain low grades in the national exams. Lack of impact after massive activism for gender equality via education raises questions about the quality of efforts that schools put in to help the girl child. This study examined the systematic approach of two coeducational high schools in Western Kenya's Kakamega County in promoting women's education. The study also analyzed in-depth the role of gender in the educational experiences of female students. Two coeducational schools took part in the study. One school has single-sex classrooms, and the other one has mixed-sex classrooms. To capture the educational experiences of female students, I interviewed eight female students, two teachers, and two principals. These female students also filled open-ended questionnaires to express themselves more freely. Rural-based, coeducational high schools in this study provide a variety of support services such as gender- specific advice to female students. Nevertheless, there is too much of a burden on principals and teachers of these schools to go above and beyond to provide fees, food, sanitary towels, learning materials, and uniforms to female students in need. Poverty immensely hampers girls’ education. The two coeducational schools need the government to employ more female teachers to act as role models to the girls and also to increase the funds it allocates them. On the role of gender in education, findings revealed that girls believe that their fellow girls do not take academics seriously, and neither do they provide much support and motivation. iv The likely cause of schoolgirls not performing well is that the majority look up to a man as a way of survival, and they do not work hard in class. These attitudes result from the way society socializes females. The articulation of masculine power and female subordination is rampant in a mixed-sex classroom. There is a dire need for a sensitization campaign to teach the local community the benefits of educating women. Also, this sensitization should be extended to female students to show them that they are equal to their male counterparts and that they have equal chances to excel academically to contribute to Kenya's workforce. Keywords: coeducational, counseling, culture, Cultural-Ecological Theory, gender equality, gender sensitive, harambee, Luhya, Millennium Development Goals, minority, mixed- sex, peer pressure, school, single-sex, Swahili, women’s education. v For my late parents: Pauline Nawire and Ali Wasike, I have a heart full of love for you two for making me what I am today. You both valued educating a girl child, and that is worth my eternal gratitude. For my children Turvin and Rey, you have always been a source of joy for me. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to express my special gratitude to my thesis committee members: Dr. Bang, Dr. Collet, and Dr. Galletta, for their extraordinary support in this thesis process. Dr. Bang, you supported me greatly and provided feedback promptly. Next, I would like to thank my truly outstanding chairperson Dr. Collet for providing thorough feedback and a timeline that helped me finish this thesis on time. Thank you, Dr. Galletta Horner, for your expert methodological advice and research classes that groomed me to carry out this study. I would also like to thank Dr. Frey, Dr. Bang, and Dr. Sherri Horner for taking the time to mentor me. It was such an honor to be your graduate assistant. It was always a pleasure to attend classes with lovely and engaging classmates. For those who have touched my life in any way since I started my master's program at BGSU, you all know who you are, and I am grateful for all you have done. I am indebted to my dear friends and family in Rhode Island for continually checking on me. I still love and cherish the beautiful memories with all the wonderful souls I met in the International House of Rhode Island. To Barbara and Charles, I am humbled to have awesome host parents like you. Also, I am eternally grateful to Bili and Gil for encouraging me throughout my graduate school. My heroes and heroines will always be my six siblings: Neddy, Fridah, Juliet, Collins, Nickson, and Yvonne. The greatest gift our late parents gave us was each other. Neddy, thank you for playing the role of a mother to me. To my younger brother Nickson, I am grateful for the parcels you send me from Nairobi all the time. Your support truly humbles me. To Peter Olando, I cannot thank you enough for your mentorship over the years. To my beloved children Turvin and my beautiful Rey of sunshine, you have given me the gift of motherhood. May my struggle to get education and a better future give you a hint of the vii profound love I have for you. To my beloved husband, Josh, to walk alongside you and to share my life with you has always been the best gift to me. Your care and attentiveness mean the world to me! Thank you for supporting me and my dreams. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1 Background of the Study ........................................................................................... 1 Organization of the Chapters ..................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW .............................................................................. 6 Chapter Overview ...................................................................................................... 6 Literature Review....................................................................................................... 8 The Education System in Kenya ................................................................................ 9 The Need for Gender Sensitive School Conditions ................................................... 14 Mixed-sex and Single-sex Schooling......................................................................... 15 The Impact of Guiding and Counseling on Girls’ Education .................................... 18 Community-based, Coeducational High Schools ...................................................... 20 A Narrative of the Luhya Beliefs and Cultural Practices .......................................... 21 Birth ............................................................................................................... 22 Circumcision .................................................................................................. 24 Marriage ......................................................................................................... 25 Death .............................................................................................................. 31 Contemporary Luhya Community ............................................................................. 32 The Current Study ...................................................................................................... 32 Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworks .................................................................. 33 The Ramification of Human Rights, Millennium Development Goals and Vision 2030 by Kenya ................................................................................... 33 ix The Cultural-Ecological Theory .................................................................... 36 Chapter Summary ...................................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 39 Chapter Overview ...................................................................................................... 39 Research Questions .................................................................................................... 39 Researcher Perspective .............................................................................................. 40 Approval of the Study and My Journey to Kenya ..................................................... 42 The Benefits of this Study and Research Sites .......................................................... 43 Sampling Technique .................................................................................................. 46 Research Population................................................................................................... 47 Anonymity and Confidentiality of Research Participants ......................................... 48 Description of Participants ......................................................................................... 49 Imani Means “Faith” in Swahili .................................................................... 52 Johari Means “Jewel” .................................................................................... 53 Pendo Means “Love” ..................................................................................... 54 Hodari Means “an Expert” ............................................................................