Lead image for The irony of Kenya’s teaching workforce: Women are the majority, but men dominate leadership.
Women make up the majority of Kenya’s public teaching workforce. But when it comes to leading schools and teacher training colleges, men hold most of the top positions.
A new audit by the National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) shows that women account for 50.2 per cent of teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC). Yet, of the 28,925 heads of educational institutions, only 27 per cent are women, while men hold the larger share at 73 per cent.
The findings are contained in the Status of Equality and Inclusion in the Teaching Workforce in Kenya (2025) report, released on July 29, 2026. The audit examined 425,613 teachers employed by TSC as of June 2025 and deployed across 34,630 public educational institutions, including primary schools, junior schools, secondary schools and teacher training colleges.
The figures reveal a persistent disconnect between women’s representation in the teaching profession and their presence in leadership. In primary schools, women account for about 55 per cent of teachers. Yet, of the 21,064 primary school heads, only 5,091 are women, representing just 24.2 per cent.
Read: Fewer female teachers in school management positions: report
The gap is narrower in secondary schools. Women make up 43.2 per cent of the 128,960 teachers employed at this level. However, they account for only 33.7 per cent of the 7,817 school heads. Teacher training colleges come closest to achieving gender balance in leadership. Women account for 44 per cent of the 1,257 tutors, while 46 per cent of the 37 college heads are women.
TSC Acting Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Evaleen Mitei said the gender gap in leadership is influenced by several factors, including the number of single-sex schools, the location of vacancies and teachers’ willingness to accept postings away from major towns. “The number of schools which are exclusively male or female is the number one determinant,” she said.
She said girls’ schools are headed by women because of the nature of the role and the responsibilities expected of principals. “You can’t take a male to Alliance Girls. The head must be a female,” she said.