Lady engineers in Kenya

As I mentioned before, I am volunteering in Kenya this summer. I am living at an all girls boarding school up in the mountains. I have no electricity in my house, but I do have a rooster to wake me up each morning!

This morning was my first day teaching. At assembly, when I was introduced, the principal said, "I hope she will motivate you to become engineers even if people tell you that you can't, because you are ladies."

This sort of got me thinking. In Kenya, I guess sometimes females are told outright that their gender gives limitations. While such a sentiment would certainly be uncouth in Canada, I think it still exists. In my experience, some people have expressed surprise when I tell them my field of study, or even confusion. What push back have you experienced, and what steps do you think need to be taken to irradicate the stereotype?