Publication Date: 2022/11/11
Abstract: - The paper aimed at establishing challenges faced by and opportunities available for females pursuing engineering programs in public tertiary colleges in the Nairobi area. The study was conducted at eleven middle-level public colleges in the Nairobi area offering engineering programs. Descriptive research design was used to describe the variables associated with women's opportunities and challenges in engineering courses. Census method was used for the target population of 317 female students. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire was tested through a pilot study. Questionnaires were randomly distributed amongst the target population. Data obtained were subjected to the SPSS program for descriptive statistics and presented in form of tables. The findings of the study were that the majority of the female students (>80%) confirmed that engineering as a course posed a challenge to them, with handling heavy machines being their main challenge. On the other hand, the majority of the respondents (>60%) confirmed that they had not received any support from the government, relevant bodies, or even international organizations. It was concluded that female students pursuing engineering programs in public tertiary colleges in the Nairobi area are faced with more challenges and opportunities are scarce. It was recommended that these institutions should provide an enabling environment that will open up more academic and career opportunities for women intending to pursue engineering at higher levels or those who wish to work in engineering areas in industries or organizations.
Keywords: Opportunities, Challenges, Engineering, female and Public-Colleges
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7313646
PDF: https://ijirst.demo4.arinfotech.co/assets/upload/files/IJISRT22OCT822_(1).pdf
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