Gender Cabinet Secretary Hannah Wendot Cheptumo.
Gender-based violence affects women, men, boys, and girls. However, women and girls suffer the most, with statistics from the World Health Organisation showing that one in three women globally experience some form of gender-based violence, including femicide.
In many cases, misogyny and manosphere are some of the contributory factors. The advent of social media has led to proliferation of abuse of women online and in some cases followed up by physical abuse. Groups such as incels (involuntary celibates) who use social media to propagate hate towards women and girls have made the situation worse.
In countries like Kenya where misogynistic views are still held by many communities, women and girls continue to experience abuse of some kind. Conservative form of lifestyle is, in fact, a cover for abuse where it is acceptable to subject women to physical and psychological abuse.
Cases of emotional, financial and coercive abuse are also being reported.
While Kenya is dilly-dallying in streamlining the Gender docket, many more women and girls come to harm.
The department is not given the prominence and support required to deal with gender-based violence. It was one of the last ministries to get a Cabinet Secretary in the current government. It shows how little regard such an important docket gets from the government that needs to be leading by example in support of gender-based issues.
Patriarchal society
My guess is that because most decision-makers at the heart of government are men in a largely patriarchal society, they fail to grasp the importance of organisations for gender-based programmes and their role in keeping women and girls safe.
Patriarchal views are in themselves a hindrance to advancing the rights of women and girls. It is a form of abuse in itself if allowed to permeate the views and policies of key government departments. This brings me to the decisions made in our courts touching on gender-based violence. The risk factor to fair hearing and sentencing are high when such cases come before a male judge with misogynistic views.
His personal views of female suspects in a homicide case should never be the deciding factor, but the evidence before him should be the guiding principles. The same could be said of female judges who make decisions just to achieve a predetermined outcome such as ‘teaching a lesson’ to would-be young homicide and femicide suspects.
Murder cases, especially, should never be decided on judges’ personal considerations given the high tariffs of death penalty and life sentences.
Murder cases, especially, should never be decided on judges’ personal considerations given the high tariffs of death penalty and life sentences.
Murder cases tend to be decided on an ‘open-and-shut’ basis, especially if it comes before a lazy or biased judge. Homicide and femicide cases should only be determined once all factors are considered. When it comes to domestic abuse setting, extreme provocation of a suspect in such a scenario is something to take into account. Partners who kill their spouses sometimes are driven to commit such acts when they fail to find a way out or provoked by the experience they encounter. This is common in relationships where a partner uses emotional, psychological and coercive control to subjugate their partner over a period of time, leading to extreme provocation.
Under the US and UK laws, extreme provocation in a domestic violence setting is defence in law and I don’t see why Kenya is not waking up to the fact that many women, in particular, suffer prolonged abuse that leads them to act irrationally, albeit leading to death. Even if such evidence is not procured at the first trial, it is only fair to include any evidence at an appeal that suggests prolonged abuse of a partner that led to ‘provoked murder’. Retrospective law demands that such evidence can be included in future if for some reason they may not have formed part of the initial case.
Prolonged abuse
A precedent is set in the case involving a UK woman named Sally Challen who murdered her husband following a prolonged period of ‘controlling and humiliating’ abuse and set free on appeal. In the recent past, femicide has been politicised in Kenya when it was mis-defined to include extrajudicial killings. That is irresponsible given the dangers of domestic abuse to society. There is a need to sensitise the public and judges to forms of abuse. This programme should start from schools. The other crucial issue to be changed is sentencing guidelines on femicide and homicide where prolonged abuse of a partner can be proved.
Not allowing for long-term abuse as defence in law can lead to suspects being abused twice over: First, by partners, and second by the justice system that should be there to offer fair hearings and not rely on personal considerations.
Finally, the whole gender-based violence programmes need to be taken seriously to reverse the trend on femicide. In that, the criminal justice system and all stakeholders should be supported to deal with the matter fairly, justly and effectively.
Ms Guyo is a legal researcher (kdiguyo@gmail.com; @kdiguyo).
