Women’s Socio-Cultural Resilience and Leadership Progression: A Case of West Pokot Sub County, West Pokot County, Kenya

In the contemporary global context, the issue of women’s equal participation in leadership roles remains pertinent. Despite positive strides in recent years, women remain underrepresented, especially in top leadership positions. This may be due to socio-cultural beliefs. Limited research has been conducted on women’s leadership and socio-cultural resilience and leadership progression, specifically within West Pokot Sub County. Therefore, the study’s main objective was to examine women’s socio-cultural resilience and Leadership Progression in West Pokot sub county, West Pokot County, Kenya. Intersectionality theory by Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989) and Resilience theory by Michael Rutter (1986) theories grounded this study. This study used descriptive exploratory research design. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect the primary data from the respondents. The sample size comprised 387 community women and 12 community women group leaders in West Pokot sub-county; hence the total sample size was 399 respondents. The general sample size was divided into two groups (community-women and women group leaders) through stratified sampling. Then the community women were selected through a simple random sampling technique while the women group leaders were selected through purposive sampling technique. To facilitate data collection, necessary permissions were obtained from the Director of Post Graduate Tharaka University, Tharaka University Ethics Committee and NACOSTI. The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS version 28.0 and presented through tables and pie charts while qualitative data was organized thematically and presented narratively. The study established that though there is an improvement in women’s leadership progression, there are still cultural barriers that include stereotypes, lack of education for girls, traditional gender roles, and patriarchy that hinder women progression in leadership. Further results have shown that socio-cultural resilience had each statistically significant effect on women’s leadership progression (β = 0.504). It is recommended that the government and other stakeholders create awareness and develop policies that advocate and foster gender inclusivity in all matters including education.