Improving ICT Gender Equality in Kenya’s Learning Institutions

Research has identified deeply ingrained gender inequalities within Kenya's educational institutions. Despite seemingly equal access to resources and student forums, there remains a ‘socialised’ inequality among students that has largely gone unaddressed. Traditional gender biases continue to shape student practices, with notable findings including:

• Male students dominate leadership positions in student societies, with no women having held any leading posts on the Student Representative Council for over 15 years.
• Female students face challenges in accessing facilities like cafeterias, sports centres, and libraries on equal terms with their male counterparts.
• Only 13% of students using ICT labs are female, despite an almost equal enrollment of 51% women and 49% men.
• Unlike male students, female students often avoid using computer labs late at night due to cultural expectations and stigma, further limiting their access to ICT resources.
• Many female students perceive ICT access as a rare privilege typically reserved for male students.

Green Retech Recycling is leading an initiative to address this disparity by establishing the country’s first women-only ICT labs across key cities. These labs, equipped with 50 to 150 computers, will be dedicated exclusively to female students. By providing access to 21st-century ICT skills, this initiative aims to level the playing field for women as they pursue careers, giving them equal opportunities with their male peers.

On a broader level, fostering female ICT engagement at this critical stage in education challenges the notion that ICT is solely for male students and is helping reshape the gender dynamics within Kenya's higher education system.