this cohort are either placed in disciplines that have a lower premium in the labor market, are likely to drop out, or take longer to complete their studies due to various gendered factors. Policy efforts to increase the percentage of female students in higher education and address gender based barriers have so far focused on selective demand and supply factors. The increase in the number of higher education institutions has also increased places for female students, though this has not been the target. In fact studies show that affirmative action policies and increase in the number of higher education institutions have not comprehensively addressed the gender barriers that characterize access and participation in higher education. Of greater concern is emerging evidence that despite the nominal increase in the number of female students accessing the institutions, the social class composition from where such female students are drawn has largely remained the same and restricted to those who can afford the rising costs of higher education(Morley Leach and Lugg, 2008). This means that existing affirmative policies as designed and implemented by the institutions have not addressed other intersecting barriers that limit the possibilities of the majority of the women accessing and participating in higher education. The needed institutional responses and initiatives are those that go beyond access and address the gendered cultures of higher education institutions, provide practical support mechanisms that enhance chances of retention and completion, and contribute to deepening gender responsive policies in higher education institutions. This chapter provides a comparative review of gender patterns of participation in higher education in Africa, with emphasis on Kenya and Nigeria, discusses the ‘new gendered zones’ of exclusion in African higher education and document some on-going institutional- level interventions to address the challenges. Transition of Female Students from Secondary to Higher Education in Africa Throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of female students accessing and participating in all levels of education is increasing. Successful international campaigns for gender equity in education and social development coupled with adoption of gender responsive policies at national levels have contributed to this increasing trend in enrollments. Progress achieved in
courses or take longer to complete them. Data collected for this study in Kenyan public universities showed that Kenyan female students enjoy little support to complete their academic programmes. Female students from poor backgrounds in need of financial help drop out of university after being involved in relationships that end in motherhood. Many female students under such circumstances find it expensive and time–consuming minding their babies while attending classes. The introduction of cost-sharing has left young women from poor backgrounds disadvantaged. In Kenya, the public universities have included in their strategic plans and mission statements a reaffirmed commitment to improving student welfare services as a benchmark to improving the quality of the learning environment. One of the consequences of not coupling widening access policies with other support mechanisms is that implementation of the policies does not conclusively address gender inequality in terms of access and participation in higher education. Affirmative policies, such as those implemented in Kenya do not critically consider the underlying constraints. Hence, rather than address inequities in access and participation in higher education, they introduce an alternative form of disparity. This creates new bottlenecks for the targeted students as regards to their participation and completion of academic programs. Thus, institutional interventions need to focus beyond numbers and target initiatives that not only increase female student participation, but also enroll them into science, mathematics and technology academic programs. Some institutions have introduced some of these interventions but they need to complement them by other support services. For example, Nigeria allocates 60 percent of admissions to higher education for Science, technology and mathematics disciplines (Morley et al., 2006: 82). At Kenyatta University, a donor funded research project has been running in the last five years targeted at enhancing access for females in secondary schools to science and mathematics- based courses in the Universities. In Kenya, current policies in the education sector tend to acknowledge the need for a broad based affirmative policy, linking admission of students to skills needed for socio-economic development. The 2005 session paper for the education sector notes that there still exists inadequate capacity for access to universities, that there is a mismatch between skills taught at