The recently proclaimed Ocean Decade by the United Nations General Assembly is committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment in ocean science research and governance. This paper examines the status of gender equality in ocean science research across higher education institutes in Kenya. Kenya has ratified international conventions for gender equality and developed national and institutional gender equality and sexual harassment policies as its commitment to promoting equitable access to education. However, it is poorly understood whether the implementation of these policies has been successful at the institutional level. This study explores the effectiveness of the institutional gender policies in public universities delivering ocean science-related degrees. Existing policies were analysed using the Gender Integration Continuum and gender ratios of enrolled students and recruited staff in ocean science-related fields investigated. The study identified that while some policy provisions included gender-transformative strategies to increase women in science-related courses, many were outdated. Gender-disaggregated data showed fewer female students and female staff in management positions compared to men. Additionally, the proportion of women in academic posts declined with the seniority of employment level, and women were more likely than men to occupy non-tenured positions. In conclusion, it appears that the presence of gender policies does not necessarily translate to gender balance across the universities. We offer some explanations as to why this should be and where to direct future research needs.

联合国大会最近宣布的海洋十年致力于海洋科学研究和治理中的性别平等和妇女赋权。本文考察了肯尼亚高等教育机构海洋科学研究中的性别平等状况。肯尼亚批准了关于性别平等的国际公约，并制定了国家和机构性别平等和性骚扰政策，作为其促进平等接受教育的承诺。然而，人们对这些政策的实施是否在机构层面取得成功还知之甚少。本研究探讨了公立大学提供海洋科学相关学位的机构性别政策的有效性。使用性别融合连续体分析现有政策，并对海洋科学相关领域的在校学生和招聘人员的性别比例进行调查。该研究发现，虽然一些政策规定包括性别变革战略，以增加女性参加科学相关课程的人数，但许多政策规定已经过时。按性别分列的数据显示，与男性相比，女性学生和管理职位的女性工作人员较少。此外，女性担任学术职务的比例随着就业水平的提高而下降，女性比男性更有可能担任非终身职位。总之，性别政策的存在似乎并不一定会转化为整个大学的性别平衡。我们提供了一些解释，说明为什么应该这样做，以及未来的研究需要在哪里引导。