#ENDFEMICIDENOW
Yesterday, I read a post that unsettled my spirit, it read ‘Guys, what’s the worst thing a woman could do to make you end her life’.
The post was uploaded by one of Kenya’s leading radio stations, Classic FM. The statement comes when the recent surge of femicides in the country is still fresh on our minds. These acts have divided Kenyans online and offline between ‘she deserved to be killed’ and ‘she did not deserve to be killed’. The normalisation of violence against women in the country is quite scary for our future female generations. Several groups and organisations have come together to advocate for the lives of women in the country through protests, vigils and hashtags #Stopkillingus, #EndFemicideNow #TotalShutDownKE, and #Herlifematters. However, the femicides are still increasing with approximately more than 20 women being murdered since the start of the year.
Femicide is the most severe form of violence against women, which is what differentiates it from homicide. It comes in different forms such as; intimate and non-intimate partner femicide, dowry and honour killings. The risk factors of femicide are usually; unemployment, poverty, sexual assault, patriarchy, excessive alcohol use, mental health issues and gender inequality. The recent murders of women in Kenya have been intimate and non-intimate partner femicides which are heavily influenced by the patriarchal system that believes in the inferiority of women and men being entitled to women’s bodies. This is the reason why a leading radio station in the country can put out a vile post without any repercussions and public outrage.
A global study done on gender-related killing of women and girls by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in 2017 cited that,
“A total of 87,000 women were intentionally killed in 2017, of which 19,000 cases were from Africa, where women run the greatest risk of being killed by their intimate partner or family members.”
Finding statistics on femicides specific to Kenya is an uphill task because the data has not been disaggregated. The Annual crime report 2016 of the national police of Kenya has data on homicides which is only broken down to; murder, manslaughter, infanticide, procuring abortion, concealing birth, suicide and causing death by drunk driving, it does not give a breakdown of the number of women murdered, as seen below.
Counting Dead Women in Kenya has collated the numbers and stories of Kenyan women who lost their lives through gender-based violence this year. They found that ’54 women have been murdered between 1st January 2019, and 27th May 2019’.
The government has the responsibility to protect Kenyan women’s rights to life and liberty by;
- Creating and enforcing laws that protect women from violence and discrimination such as stricter sentences for perpetrators of non-intimate and intimate violence and femicide and any person who advocates for the killing of any woman should be held to account.
- Ensuring that sufficient data is collected on femicides starting from hospitals to police stations. These two institutions should also be tasked with identifying risk factors of femicide such as intimate partner violence.
Back home and in schools, patriarchy should be dismantled and men should be taught to respect women and their bodies.
A nation should never be divided on sexist senseless violent acts against women. This is not a Kenya I feel safe being a woman in. Knowing that if I die in the hands of a man, the public will be divided; calling me an opportunist / slay queen or asking what I did to deserve to be killed. No one deserves to be murdered and it should never be a debate. This is because everyone is entitled to the right to life as enshrined in our constitution.
