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In a Form 3 physics class in Nyamira County, Kenya, girls sit in the minority.

By the time Form 4 comes around, some have already made a quiet decision: science is not for them. They haven't failed a test. They haven't been told they lack ability. But somewhere between the classroom and the community, between the textbook and the teacher's unconscious bias, they absorbed a message that boys belong in the lab and girls belong elsewhere.

This is not a personal choice gap. It is a systemic one.

The Numbers Tell a Stark Story

Kenya has made remarkable progress in getting women into universities. Female enrolment grew by 16.9 per cent between 2024 and 2025, compared with 9 per cent for men. Women now account for 46.1 per cent of all university students. That's progress.

But look closer, and the picture changes dramatically.

In engineering, there are nearly four male students for every female student — 24,529 men compared with just 6,715 women. In Information and Computer Technology, the ratio is 16,293 men to 6,106 women. In Computer Science, 14,298 men to 5,407 women. Physical and Related Sciences: 6,334 men, 2,674 women.

The Commission for University Education put it plainly: improved access to university education "has not eliminated gender segregation by field of study."

In the engineering profession itself, only 8 per cent of professional engineers are women. Women make up just 15 per cent of graduate engineers — 3,637 out of 24,482 nationwide. Among registered professional engineers, the figure drops to 12 per cent. And in consulting engineering? Just 32 out of 645 — 5 per cent.

Globally, women constitute only 35 per cent of STEM graduates. In sub-Saharan Africa, women are just 31.5 per cent of researchers. The digital divide compounds this: for every 100 men in sub-Saharan Africa with spreadsheet skills, only 40 to 44 women have the same proficiency.

And in the energy sector — critical for East Africa's future — women hold only about one in five jobs, and fewer than 5 per cent of technical and trade roles like electricians and line workers. In STEM-related roles within renewable energy, women are just 28 per cent of the workforce.

These numbers matter because they represent not just lost opportunities for individual women, but lost innovation for a region that desperately needs it. As UNESCO has stated: "The underrepresentation of one gender in science is not only detrimental to scientific progress but a major impediment to socio-economic development."

The Root Causes: A Web of Barriers

Cultural Stereotypes and Socialization

The belief that science is "masculine" doesn't operate in isolation. It is reinforced in classrooms, in textbooks, in the toys children are given, and in the expectations parents place on their sons versus daughters.

Research by the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC), surveying 4,662 learners across 250 schools in 10 Kenyan counties, found that only 20 per cent of girls intend to pursue physics in upper secondary school, compared with 33 per cent of boys. In contrast, 85 per cent of girls reported plans to take Christian or Islamic Religious Education. The tracking begins early.

A separate study found that 43 per cent of respondents believed some courses "best suit males," while 31 per cent cited parents' unwillingness to educate girls after high school as a key reason for low female enrolment in technical courses.

These stereotypes are absorbed before girls even enter a laboratory. They are told — sometimes explicitly, often subtly — that their minds are suited for languages and caregiving, not equations and engines.

The Classroom Experience: Unequal Treatment

The bias isn't always loud. It's in who gets called on first in math class. It's in who is handed the lab equipment. It's in who is told, even implicitly, that they belong at the front of the classroom.

The National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) reports that boys and girls experience unequal treatment in teacher attention, resource allocation, participation in STEM activities, and opportunities for leadership. Girls are underrepresented in science laboratories and extracurricular STEM opportunities.

The infrastructure gap makes this worse. Only 40 per cent of schools in Kenya have computer laboratories. For girls in rural areas, this means less access to the digital skills that are increasingly essential for STEM careers.

Teachers themselves often bring unconscious biases into the classroom. As VVOB, an education development organization working in Kenya, notes: teachers "may bring unconscious biases, stereotypes, and gender norms that can influence how they engage with and support different learners." Existing teacher training policies often emphasize content knowledge over pedagogical approaches that address gender bias.

The Confidence Gap

Edinah Nyakondi, a Kenyan science teacher, says the biggest obstacle isn't ability but confidence: "Many students perceive science as difficult and are not self-driven or motivated to engage with it."

Research and classroom experience point to a persistent confidence gap — girls often underestimate their own competence, even when they are performing at the top of their class. Girls who excel in mathematics may still opt out of STEM pathways because they don't believe they belong there.

This confidence gap is reinforced by the absence of visible mentors. As one study participant put it: "Young people look up to people who have succeeded in life to inspire their dreams... there are few women in these technical courses, which can lower the motivation of the young generation."

Lack of role models — especially visible female STEM professionals — is repeatedly cited as a barrier. From Professor Wangari Maathai to tech leader Juliana Rotich, Kenyan women have shattered ceilings. But girls need to see this before they choose their pathway in Grade 9.

Economic and Structural Barriers

For girls in marginalized communities, the barriers are even steeper. Cost of tuition, transportation, and access to technology can prevent girls from pursuing STEM education.

Teenage pregnancy, child labour, child marriages, and other cultural practices cause irregular school attendance for girls, locking them out of science studies. As Education Cabinet Secretary Belio Kipsang noted, these factors make girls "the most vulnerable" whose "full attendance in school is greatly interfered with and some completely drop out."

Why This Matters: The Cost of Exclusion

When girls are pushed out of STEM, Kenya doesn't just lose female scientists. It loses the questions they would have asked.

Solutions designed mostly by men miss women's realities — in healthcare, in agriculture, in climate adaptation. The energy transition, critical for East Africa's future, is being designed with women holding only 19 per cent of senior management roles. The wage gap in clean energy is nearly 20 per cent, and it remains largely unchanged even after accounting for differences in ability, education, and experience.

Kenya's Vision 2030 depends on a skilled STEM workforce. Excluding half the population from building it is not just unfair. It is inefficient.

As one analysis put it: "You cannot become what you cannot see."

What's Already Working: Seeds of Change

Change is already happening, though it needs to scale.

In Turkana County, STEM boot camps have reached over 140 girls from 12 schools, training them in coding, robotics, and 3D printing. These hands-on experiences provide the early exposure that so many girls lack.

The African Girls Can Code Initiative has been training young women across Kenya, building digital skills and confidence.

At St. Clare Girls Secondary School, teacher Edinah Nyakondi dismantles stereotypes by showing her students her own academic achievements — proof that success in science is possible for women.

At the university level, women now make up close to 30 per cent of students pursuing technical courses such as engineering, architecture, and construction surveying. Progress is real, if incomplete.

The Engineers Board of Kenya has seen steady growth in women joining engineering and construction, though representation remains low. Industry leaders are now pushing for women to secure at least 50 per cent of construction project contracts, arguing that the constitutional requirement of 30 per cent for special groups should be fully realized.

The solutions are known. What's needed is the will to implement them at scale.

What Needs to Happen

For parents: Give your daughters science kits, not just dolls. Tell them they can be engineers. The research is clear: parents influence subject choices. Your encouragement matters more than you know.

For teachers: Notice who you call on. Notice who you hand the lab equipment to. Confront your own unconscious biases. Gender-responsive teaching isn't about special treatment — it's about equal treatment.

For schools: Start STEM clubs for girls. Invite female scientists to speak. Ensure labs are equipped and accessible. Pair girls with female engineers, data scientists, and architects through structured, ongoing mentorship — not just annual career talks.

For policymakers: Fund scholarships for girls in STEM. Train teachers in gender-responsive pedagogy. Track enrollment data — and act on it. The Commission for University Education has called for "targeted interventions to encourage more women into STEM," including mentorship, scholarships, career guidance, and supportive learning environments.

For industry: Create pathways for women to advance into leadership. The "glass ceiling" in STEM isn't just unfair — it deprives companies and countries of talent.

For girls: You belong in the lab. You belong in the code. You belong in the equation. Don't shrink.

The Next Chapter

Kenya has proven it can close the gender gap in university enrolment. Women now make up nearly half of all students. The next challenge is not simply getting more women into universities — it is widening their participation in the fields that will shape the future.

The stereotype that science is for boys is not a fact of nature. It is a story that has been told for generations. And stories can be rewritten.

A girl in Turkana who dreams of building bridges shouldn't be told to dream smaller. She should be handed a ruler, a mentor, and a classroom that believes in her.

The question isn't whether Kenya's girls can do STEM. They already are — at the top of their classes. The question is whether the system will finally let them.

Sources: Commission for University Education (2025), APHRC, UNESCO, National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), Engineers Board of Kenya, International Energy Agency, and others.