The headline figure of "50:50 Gender Parity" in the 2025 KCSE enrollment masks a persistent and worrying imbalance in the details. A deep dive into the subject performance reveals that while girls have conquered the Languages, the "hard sciences"—Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry—remain stubbornly male-dominated domains.

The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) data shows a stark divergence. In Mathematics Alternative A, boys posted a mean score significantly higher than girls. In Physics, the gap was even wider. Conversely, girls thrashed boys in English, Kiswahili, and CRE. This "subject segregation" threatens to lock women out of the lucrative future economy of engineering, medicine, and tech.

Anatomy of the Gap

Why, after decades of affirmative action and "STEM for Girls" NGOs, does the gap persist? Interviews with teachers and students reveal cultural and structural barriers.

• The "Maths Myth": "Girls are told early on that Math is hard and 'for boys'," says a principal from a Girls' National School in Kiambu. "By Form 2, many have mentally checked out of Physics."
• Resource Allocation: In mixed day schools, laboratory duties are often subtly gendered. Boys handle the apparatus; girls record the data. This lack of hands-on confidence translates to poor performance in practicals.
• The "Career" Pipeline: This performance skew dictates university courses. The 270,000 qualifiers will likely see men dominate Engineering and Computer Science faculties, while women cluster in Humanities and Education. This perpetuates the gender wage gap long before these students enter the workforce.

Bright Spots

It is not all gloom. Specific girls' schools like Kenya High and Alliance Girls have defied the trend, posting excellent mean scores in sciences. These outliers prove that the issue is not biological but pedagogical. It requires a deliberate change in how science is taught—making it less abstract and more relatable.

The Challenge: As Kenya positions itself as the "Silicon Savannah," it cannot afford to leave half its brainpower behind in the humanities. Achieving enrollment parity was Step 1. Step 2 is breaking the "Science Ceiling."