2.1 million Kenyan men abused by women: Report

Mandeleo ya Wanaume chairman Ndiritu Njoka. PHOTO/ FILE

What you need to know:

  • The worst hit by the abuses are the elderly men from the age of 60
  • Nairobi County is said to be leading the counties where men are domestically abused
  • The book contains letters addressed to US president Barack Obama and the UN council

At least 2.1 million men are abused daily by women in Kenya, according to a new report by Maendeleo ya Wanaume (Mawa).

The gender based watchdog has consequently raised the red flag over the increasing figures which it says have reached alarming levels.

Mawa chairman Ndiritu Njoka in a new book set to be launched next month says the number of men who are abused daily by their spouses increased from 1.5 million in 2009 to 2.1 million this year

“The worst hit by the abuses are the elderly men from the age of 60 with the findings revealing that 95 per cent of them are physically, emotionally and economically abused,” said Mr Ndiritu.

According to the research, whose findings form a chapter in his book Coup de Grace: Gender Apartheid 1st World War of Sexes, Mr Ndiritu says that abuse against men is carried out in all manner of forms including battering and inflicting of bodily harm.

“People think gender based violence is all about battering but the matter is big. The denial of the man as the head of the house and being forced to do menial jobs like cooking, laundry and baby-sitting among other domestic chores all constitute abuse,” he said.

Nairobi County is said to be leading the counties where men are domestically abused with 82 per cent of those interviewed confessing to being a survivor of emotional, physical and economic violence.

BESTIALITY

Kiambu, Mombasa, Nyeri and Kirinyaga make up the other top five counties where violence towards men is rampant while minimal cases were reported in West Pokot, Turkana, Taita Taveta and Elgeyo Marakwet counties.

According to Ndiritu, even the recent reports of acts of bestiality across the country have been occasioned by the growing tendency by women to deny their spouses the conjugal rights.

“It is an alarming trend that must be reverted at the earliest opportunity. Men being denied their conjugal rights is real and there is need for quick intervention because resorting to acts of bestiality is not the solution,” he said on Monday in an interview with Daily Nation.

The book contains letters addressed to US president Barack Obama and the UN council where Mr Ndiritu has proposed November 11 to be set aside as the day to protest against gender violence against men.

“We are also urging our men to shun their spouses and girlfriends on that day as a way of emancipating themselves from this cold war of the sexes,” he adds.