Is there an epidemic of violence against women in Kenya?

Thousands of individuals have gathered in cities and towns across Kenya to express their dissent against the recent murders of over a dozen women. The anti-femicide protest, which took place on Saturday last week, marked the largest gathering in the country dedicated to opposing sexual and gender-based violence.

In Nairobi, the capital, demonstrators donned T-shirts featuring the names of women who fell victim to homicide this month. The predominantly female crowd brought traffic to a halt, passionately shouting slogans like “Stop killing us!” and brandishing signs with messages such as “There is no justification to kill women.” Despite attempts by the parliamentary representative for women, Esther Passaris, to address the crowd in Nairobi, protesters, accusing Passaris of maintaining silence during the recent surge in killings, vociferously rejected her with chants of “Where were you?” and “Go home!”

The facts
The recent murders of two Kenyan women this month are drawing attention to a troubling pattern of gender-based violence in the East African country. Activists are urging the government to implement more measures to safeguard women.

On January 14, 20-year-old student Rita Waeni was killed and dismembered in a short-term rental apartment in the capital Nairobi. Waeni’s family received ransom texts, possibly after her murder, and local reports suggest that she may have been lured by her assailant through the social app Instagram. Three male suspects are currently in custody, with one being arrested at the airport while attempting to leave Kenya.

A few days earlier, popular Instagram personality Starlet Wahu, 26, was discovered dead in an Airbnb room, bleeding from a fatal stab wound inflicted by a man she had met online. A suspect, believed to be a serial offender, has been apprehended, and multiple women have come forward accusing the same man of previous assaults.

These incidents represent just two of at least four reported gender-based murders in Kenya since the beginning of the year, contributing to a rising trend of violence and abuses against women, according to rights groups.

Kenyan media have additionally reported the murders of two other women in the past week. Christine Aume was attacked and beheaded while cooking in her detached kitchen in Homa Bay, western Kenya, on January 17. On the same day, police discovered the body of another woman murdered and left by a road in Kiambu County, central Kenya.

The arguments

Activists in Kenya are expressing concern over rising rates of femicide, defined as the deliberate killing of women or girls primarily based on their gender, often by their partners or individuals known to them, such as family members.

The Kenyan government does not compile statistics on female homicides. However, Femicide Count Kenya, which tracks reported killings in local news, documented 58 deaths labelled as femicides between January and October 2022. In 2023, the organization reported at least 152 killings, marking the highest number in the past five years.

Incidents of abuse are prevalent, with news reports detailing cases of women being beaten, stabbed, and raped. The nonprofit organization Usikimye, which operates a helpline for female survivors of violence, receives over 150 calls daily, including those from individuals reporting third-party abuse.

A 2022 national survey found that approximately a third of Kenyan females, totaling around nine million women, have experienced some form of physical violence. Despite many of these incidents occurring in private spaces, women in Nairobi describe a pervasive atmosphere of fear in the city. They express a lack of confidence in authorities and resort to safety measures such as traveling in groups.

Kenya, like many African nations, has ratified treaties addressing gender-based violence, such as the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. National legislation, including the Sexual Offences Act, criminalizes violence against women, and the Kenyan police have established specialized gender desks.

However, activists argue that government policies are often ineffective. They highlight the absence of government-sponsored national campaigns addressing gender-based violence and its consequences. The justice system is slow and ineffective in prosecuting perpetrators, with corruption creating gaps in implementing these laws.

Despite these legal frameworks, many women assert the existence of a deep-seated “misogynistic” culture that views women as objects to be “owned” and often focuses on shaming them rather than holding their male perpetrators accountable. In the wake of the killings of Wahu and Waeni, activists note the emergence of blame directed at the victims, particularly from some Kenyan men.

Questions about why the women were meeting up and entering short-term rentals with men have surfaced. Also, disciplining a woman by her husband is considered commonplace in Kenya, with some viewing it as a form of affection where a man is perceived to be “teaching” his wife. These patriarchal ideas, coupled with structural inequalities between men and women in Kenyan society, create an environment favourable to violence.

Rights groups argue that Kenya is experiencing a national crisis, prompting women to organize demonstrations in Febryuary, using hashtags such as #EndFemicideKE, #StopKillingUs, and #TotalShutdownKE. Activists are pushing for femicide to be explicitly recognized as a crime, advocating for heavier sentences for perpetrators. They are also calling for the government to collect data on violence against women and for the training of health and law officers to proactively identify and protect vulnerable individuals.