Orientation of female secondary school students to work, marriage and family, Western Province, Kenya.

In this study, the orientation of adolescent girls in rural Kenya to future participation in the modern sector of employment at various stages of their lives and to marriage and family formation are examined in relation to parental expectations and aspirations, girls' attitudes toward the participation and advancement of women in the modern wage sector, quality of the school attended, academic self-concept and family background variables. The study is based on data collected over a period of fifteen months of field work in Kenya's predominantly rural Western Province. The sample consisted of 304 girls in their third year of secondary school. Research methods included a written questionnaire and individual interviews. Overall, the results show that for the majority of young women, employment in the modern wage sector is an integral component of their definitions of future success. As daughters they are expected to contribute to the financial well-being of their parents' home. As wives and mothers they expect that their future husbands will be unable or, in some cases, unwilling to meet their needs and those of their children. The students are aware, to varying degrees, of their own limitations as well as societal contradictions that either accompany or preclude success, so defined. Those who anticipate continuous participation in wage employment are more likely to attend a government school, come from homes where the father is present and the parents urge them to pursue professional-level careers, support non-traditional roles for women and prefer later marriages and smaller families.PhDEducationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/104604/1/9116106.pdfDescription of 9116106.pdf : Restricted to UM users only