Abstract:
Women in Technical Education and Development (WITED) programme were identified by the Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa (CAPA) as an important factor for employability, innovation and sustainable development. The aim was to improve access of women to technical education. The effectiveness of WITED programme on the enrolment of women in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) was analyzed. The study used simple random to sample 20 trainers and 100 trainees from three (3) TVET institutions in Western region of Kenya. At the same time, 3 Principals, 12 heads of departments (HODs), five (5) deans of students (DOS) and 10 technicians were sampled by purposive sampling. Data was collected by use of both questionnaire and structured interview schedule. Special Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used to analyze results. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were presented in form of tables. Pearson correlation of -0.023 indicates that WITED program in TVET institutions is weak. This shows there is gender disparity in terms of enrolment, access, retention and completion rates in TVET. The main obstacles to women enrolment and exemplary performance in STEM courses include; cultural stereotypes and lack of role models as well as other socio-cultural factors.
