Raising alone: The hidden toll of Kenya's single motherhood
Mother and her children.
What you need to know:
- When Covid-19 struck, Emily Wambui’s husband walked out, leaving her to provide for their son alone in Nairobi’s Korogocho slums; her story mirrors that of thousands of Kenyan women forced into single motherhood amid economic and social hardship.
- Across Kenya, single motherhood is on the rise, fuelled by abandonment, early pregnancies, widowhood, and divorce. Yet, despite these realities, society continues to stigmatise single mothers, leaving many to struggle in silence.
Emily Wambui never imagined that one day she would raise her son alone, even though she had endured three years of domestic abuse before the Covid-19 pandemic.
She lived with her husband in Korogocho, Nairobi. He worked as a casual labourer while she hawked home-made liquid soap. When Covid-19 hit Kenya, the economy crumbled, affecting both casual workers and micro-businesses.
“He left home in August 2020, and I have never seen him again. He left me with rent arrears of Sh14,000. I was evicted and had to be hosted by a friend,” she says.
“Now, I hawk second-hand clothes to provide for my nine-year-old son, though I still wish he could reappear to help pay his school fees.”
Although Emily says her husband often beat her, she never thought of leaving the marriage because he provided for them.
“At least he paid the rent and bought food when I had not sold anything. Our monthly rent was Sh3,500,” she recalls.
Her abandonment during the Covid-19 period is just one example of how women in Kenya are increasingly becoming single parents in a society that often treats single mothers as outcasts.
Studies list abandonment, divorce, escaping abusive marriages, widowhood, non-marital births, and single-parent adoptions as key drivers of single motherhood.
According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014, just under one in three Kenyan households were headed by women. By 2022, a third of households in Kenya were headed by women, with the proportion higher in rural areas (36 per cent) than in urban areas (31 per cent).
A report by the Soles for African Child Foundation attributes the high prevalence of single motherhood in Kenya to early pregnancies, high male mortality, and divorce.
However, society often fails to recognise these circumstances, leaving single mothers to navigate social and economic hardship alone.
“I have gone through a lot of frustration as a single mother. I suffer disrespect from my neighbours,” said one woman interviewed in a study on the experiences of single mothers at Kware in Ongata Rongai, Kajiado County.
“If anything is lost in the neighbourhood, we become suspects. My children have even been arrested without proper reason,” she added.
“On the other hand, my most satisfying moments are when I feel peaceful, with no one quarrelling, fighting, or sending me to sleep in the cold. I would not want to look for a husband again, considering the frustration I went through in my marriage.”
To end the tribulations faced by single mothers, pro–single mothers’ rights advocates recommend, in the Soles for African Child Foundation report, the strengthening of child support laws, campaigns to reduce stigma and promote gender equality, and the establishment of scholarship and educational programmes targeting single mothers and their children.
