Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Daily Nation
Published on 2024-01-30 04:00:00
The founder of the White Ribbon Campaign, Michael Kaufman, spoke in 1991 following the Montreal Massacre, where a group of misogynistic men killed 14 female students at the University of Montreal, Canada. He stated that the violence against women is a daily occurrence, carried out by men, and emphasized the need for action to address this issue.
Kaufman’s words remain relevant today, as evidenced by the prevalence of femicides in Kenya. The situation seems to reflect a genocidal war against women, leaving men with female relatives feeling fearful for their safety.
An important point made during a workshop was that if men reacted to incidents of violence against women with the same outrage as they would if their own family members were affected, the issue could be addressed. If violence against women does not generate such outrage, then those individuals are complicit in the problem.
A recent pilot study conducted by Kenyatta University’s Sexual and Gender-Based Violence team revealed that husbands and boyfriends accounted for 93.8% of all cases of violence, highlighting the need to address the issue at its root – within the household.
The study also found that 84.4% of survivors had been in marital relationships before experiencing violence, with a clear pattern of men using violence to exert control over women’s lives.
The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2022 showed that the experience of violence among women increases with age, and married women were much more likely to have experienced violence than unmarried women, indicating that marriage is a risk factor for women.
The study also revealed that the majority of survivors were 26 to 45 years old, got married or started cohabiting at a young age, and had relatively low levels of education and economic stability. This led to increased dependency on male partners and a greater tolerance for abuse.
Furthermore, the study found that women with higher incomes than their partners were more likely to face violence, as it threatened the men’s sense of masculinity.
The writer emphasizes the need for women to leave abusive relationships and for men to be part of the solution to violence against women. Overall, urgent action is needed to address the pervasive issue of violence against women.
