Women, Youth March Against Gender Based Violence

Hundreds of women and youths in Kilifi have taken to the street in a protest against gender-based violence[GBV].

 

Earlier this week , crowds gathered in the outskirts of Kilifi and walked on street corners, in parks, in front of bars , and markets .The walk also involved boys in battle against gender violence.

 

They came together to raise awareness and to remind the public that violence toward women and girls persists despite the progress in ending it. Those involved say the events also created a platform to share how violence has touched their lives and show solidarity through walking .

 

The walk was organized by Miss campus Kilifi and Runway against Gender based Violence in partnership with the Kilifi department of gender and social services .

 

In the last two years ,the county has recorded 886 cases of gender based violence.This is according to data released by the Kilifi Gender-Based Violence Response Centre ;also indicating that the youngest victim is a three -year-old baby girl from Bamba.

 

It also reveals that rape and intimate partner violence (IPV) cases have gone up by 10 per cent.

 

The United Nations defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”

 

Noni Mbugus founder of Runway against Gender based Violence says she has experienced sexual harassment, along with most women she knows. An online organization dealing with GBV survivors gave her a safe platform to share her experiences.

 

Watching women and men walking down the streets carrying banners reminded her of the movement she started after healing from sexual harassment and the conversation it has triggered among men and women.

 

“This campaign means to me a battle for women’s rights to their body and soul, a battle for the right to live lives that are safe from gender-based violence,” she said. “To me it means solidarity, sisterhood and brotherhood.” she said.

 

Mrs. Noni says it took her time before she decided to move out ,because she didn’t know where to start.

 

”I am rising because I have a voice. I am boldly speaking against GBV for all the women that can’t. I am speaking to make this stop, because statistically, there are more of us!!”she said.

 

For years now ,Noni has been on the frontline in fighting gender based violence and she says her passion for the cause was jump-started by her harrowing experience.

 

In Kilifi; many women who get abused by their partners decided to stick around because they can not fathom a life without the perpetrator.

 

However, Various stakeholders still name culture as one contributor to domestic abuse.Majority of men still consider a wife to be her husband’s property and have no legal rights whatsoever.

 

“Men don’t abuse women because society tells them it’s OK. Men abuse women because society tells them they are entitled to be in control.”said James Kea, an activist.

 

On a day focused on ending violence toward women, Kilifi county Gender and sports chief Officer Agnetta Karembo Charo joined the walk to talk on what she sees as a problem affecting men, too.

 

”Violence toward women also debases men by reinforcing hyper-masculine gender norms that prevent men from realizing their true potentials as human beings.Women’s issues to me are important since I believe that no society can ever free itself from problems of inequality, poverty, and violence without the full freedom of women.”She said,

 

”I’m inspired by the idea of women and youths coming together to end violence,” she said . I wanted to be surrounded by women coming together to stand for strength and courage and love ;Karembo added.

 

She said it is worrying since there is no support to access treatment for survivors of violence due to a lack of safe homes. Worse, most of the victims are raped by people close to them.

 

“Kilifi lacks safe houses where victims of violence can seek shelter as they seek justice. Therefore, many of the abused women are forced to return to their abusive husbands,”

 

In a bid to solve the problem ,She however says the county government is considering building safer houses for victims.

 

She however encouraged the public to report these cases and never to keep quiet.

 

” The combination of fear, stigma and a lack of trust in the police make the majority of cases never to be reported”.She said.

 

Namlondwe Swai Gender based violence activist in Kilifi , says the issue is still taboo in Mijikenda culture.

 

“This is the kind of stuff that’s not talked about but that actually happens. You see once something tragic happens, the nature of things is when it’s ongoing, people forget to complain; people just take it as, ‘Oh that’s how it is here’ and it shouldn’t be.And it’s beyond the physical part of it you know there’s a psychological effect to this. Even if a woman is hit once by a man and succeeds there’s no more physical hitting but there’s verbal abuse. That first hitting will create a cycle and the self esteem will affect all decision making”. says Namlondwe.

 

“The reality of the statistics slapped me in the face . Many women had experienced sexual violence. I’m one of the lucky ones, but Im’m sickened, and I’m enraged. Why is this a regular thing? How is it allowed to continue?” she poised .

 

Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation, a public health pandemic and a serious obstacle to sustainable development. It imposes large-scale costs on families, communities and economies.

 

Economic and social empowerment of women; the provision of services by the state such as legal, health or social services; and the transformation of societal attitudes towards gender, “male privilege and female subordination” among others are regarded as the hope.

 

In March last year, Chief Justice Martha Koome opened the first ever special sexual gender-violence court at Shanzu Law Courts in Mombasa.

 

Koome reiterated Judiciary’s commitment to ensuring that SGBV cases are dealt with and expedited as required in the coastal region.

About The Author