Why violence against women persists despite efforts to end it

Esther Passaris leads a group of activists in an anti-gender-based violence campaign in Nairobi on November 28, 2016. GBV should be stopped. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Gender-based violence knows no race, ethnicity, class, level of education, culture, religion or political affiliation.
  • We must train our boys to have the right perspectives about women so that when they grow up they may not depart from it.

Gender-based violence in Kenya is more widespread than many of us imagine.

The absence of information and communication infrastructure in many parts of the country, the deep-seated cultural practices and stigma surrounding it means that many cases go unreported, even as victims suffer untold physical pain and emotional anguish.

Gender-based violence knows no race, ethnicity, class, level of education, culture, religion or political affiliation.

It cuts across all segments of society, making it one of the most pervasive and devastating forms of human rights violations, both nationally and globally.

Admittedly and contrary to common belief, men are sometimes victims of gender-based violence.

In fact, the number of reported cases of physical and sexual assault against men has been growing steadily over the past few years.

However, women account for a disproportionate number of the reported cases of sexual and physical assault across geographical, social and economic strata.

Men, therefore, hold the key to ending violence against women both at home and at the workplace.

There is no better way of ending gender-based violence than “catching them young”.

We must train our boys to have the right perspectives about women so that when they grow up they may not depart from it.

Equally, we must train our girls to take their rightful place in society as producers, influencers, innovators and leaders.

THE WHY
So, why does gender-based violence continue to defy global efforts to end it?

Why is sexual and physical violence against women so rampant in spite of stiff legislation against it?

There are certain cultural practices in this country which, by their very nature, purport to sanitise and justify sexual, emotional and physical violence against women.

When a man beats up his wife, for instance, this is considered an acceptable method of instilling discipline in some communities, hence the community leaders rarely intervene, often passing it off as a “small domestic matter”.

The failure to intervene is not a blight limited to communities alone.

Police officers have been reported to dismiss gender-based violence as a personal matter that ought to be resolved at the family level.

Interestingly, there are also cultures where women consider being beaten by their husbands a sign of “love”.

A woman who has not been beaten for a long time would once in a while provoke the husband to hit her as a confirmation that she is still “the one”.

These cultures, however, no longer hold any relevance in this day and age and cannot be tolerated as they not only violate the laws of the land but tend to discriminate against women in socio-economic and political advancement.

NEW COURSE
The second reason gender-based violence continues to thrive is poor and inadequate data collection and analysis that can support resource allocation and institutional support for victims.

One reason for this is that many victims choose not to report violations either because of being prevailed upon by the community or because they find police stations too unwelcoming to accommodate the sensitive nature of the violations.

The other reason is that there is no single national organisation responsible for tracking, monitoring, documenting and disseminating information on cases of gender-based violence. The work is left to a plethora of agencies.

The third reason is the wider societal structures that continue to subject women to inequalities in virtually all spheres of life, including economic opportunities, political participation and social standing in the community.

As the world marks 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, it is time to reset the button on the barbaric practice.

Mr Nyang’aya is Amnesty International Kenya country director. [email protected]