Kenya's worrying femicide statistics exacerbated by victim blaming: Where did we drop the ball?
Women in Nairobi take part in a protest dubbed 'Feminist march against femicide' on January 27, 2024, to protest against the rising femicide across the country in recent months.
The new year began with femicide stories dominating the headlines. Cases of gender-based violence and femicide dominated the news, and the country saw its largest-ever anti-femicide protest, spanning several towns and counties.
When women and feminists took to the streets on January 27, they put into action an online rally that was already underway. Using the hashtags #TotalShutDown, #EndFemicideKE, and #StopKillingUs, Kenyan women rallied their numbers to express their anger at the rising number of deaths at the hands of men. The protests were triggered by a series of murders of women, which attracted a lot of public attention. Femicide, the most extreme form of gender-based violence against women, is the killing of women and girls for gender-related reasons.
