Brigit Namwalo has nothing to celebrate. As the world marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25, she sat in her house, dejected, nursing a wound inflicted by her husband of 12 years.
”I have lived in this abusive marriage for the past eight years. I really want to move out, but … I fear that I may not be able to take care of my children,” the mother of four said in Nairobi.
”He started beating me when I once questioned why he had made it a habit to be coming home at four o’clock in the morning,” said Namwalo (not her real name).
”Since that time, I have become his punching bag and several times he has knifed me. All this he has been doing in front of the children, who now take off whenever they see him,” an emotional Namwalo added.
Her remarks come in the midst of an international campaign against women abuse, 16 Days of Activism on Violence against Women, which was launched in Kenya on November 22. The event is being observed in more than 100 countries, including South Africa, where various activities will be held to address the problem of abuse.
”Cases of violence against women are on the increase, probably because deterrent legislation is lacking,” says Ann Muthoni, Advocacy Officer at the Coalition of Violence against Women (COVAW), based in Nairobi.
”When a perpetrator of violence has been charged, he is easily released on probation, and this makes it easy for him to repeat the crime,” she observes, adding that economic problems also contribute greatly to violence in the home.
She says that in 2001 and 2002, about five women a day were being seriously battered by their husbands in Nairobi -‒ and that the figure was thought to be much higher in rural areas.
According to Muthoni, the number of battered women in the Kenyan capital is expected to rise this year, ”but we will get the exact figures after a study we are conducting is complete”.
COVAW programmes officer Ann Gathumbi says staff at the organisation currently handle seven cases of violence against women daily.
Joyce Majiwa, chairperson of the Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya (Fida-K), agrees that domestic violence is on the increase. She ascribes it to the crumbling of traditional and social structures, which have not been replaced by other norms.
”Roles that were traditionally considered to be for women are now being performed by men and vice versa,” she says. ”This is causing a lot of tension, which trickles down to violence in the home.”
Fida-K deals with more than 5 000 cases of battered women annually -‒ but it expects that the opening of a new crisis centre in the coastal town of Mombasa this year will cause that figure to rise. The organisation has two other centres in Kenya, one in Nairobi and the other in Kisumu, which is located in the western part of the country.
As women decry the brutality they sometimes experience at the hands of their spouses, a handful of men are also speaking out about violence that has been levelled against them -‒ by women.
So far, four men have testified about decades of physical abuse by their wives. A new grouping, Men for Gender Equality Change Now, was recently established to address this phenomenon.
Chairperson Daniel Mbekar said in an interview recently that his organisation is conducting workshops across the country to encourage men to speak out about domestic violence.
”This is the first step towards finding solutions. Being quiet will just make the situation worse,” he said.
Mbekar said his organisation handles five cases of battered men each week.
Women’s rights organisations accuse the Kenyan government of dragging its feet when it comes to enacting effective legislation against abuse. In particular, they point to the fact that the new Domestic Violence and Family Protection Bill has yet to be signed into law.
”The Bill is pending and I do not think it will see the face of Parliament this year,” says Majiwa, adding that her organisation will intensify campaigns for approval of the Bill in 2004.
Among other things, the proposed law -‒ drafted in 2001 -‒ makes provision for women to be protected from perpetrators of domestic violence.
Should Kenya adopt the Bill, it will join its East African counterpart Uganda in implementing legislation that is more progressive as far as women’s safety is concerned.
Two weeks ago, Uganda approved the long-awaited Domestic Relations Bill, which addresses all aspects of violence against women. This came about after concerted pressure from women and human rights organisations. — IPS