Violence Against Women
Source: The Star Kenya
November 2014 will remain etched in the minds of thousands of women and for the most gruesome of reasons.
It is the month where the public stripping of a woman at a bus stop in Nairobi sparked a ripple effect of similar waves of assault towards women in public service vehicles and bus stops across Nairobi.
The onslaught towards the unsuspecting women was provoked by what gangs of youths termed as indecent attire.
Just hours after the first incidence begun trending on social media after an eye witness had posted the video online, the public stripping and groping of women had spread like bushfire and no woman was safe.
“We began to see men sitting in large groups at all hours of the day waiting to attack women just because they could. Young girls were also not spared,” recounts Julia Njoki, a gender activist in Mathare Slums.
It is this sad state of affairs that begun a social movement which put the lid on these brutal attacks as quickly as they had begun preventing a catastrophe.
Using the twitter hash tag #MyDressMyChoice gender and human rights activists begun a social movement that they also took to the streets to express their disgust over the heinous and retrogressive attacks on women.
So successful was the campaign that it not only caught President Uhuru Kenyatta’s attention who condemned it in the strongest words possible but it also became one of the key amendments introduced into the Penal Code.
The Security Laws (Amendment) Act 2014, article (251A) clearly states that “a person who intentionally insults the modesty of any other person by forcibly stripping such a person, commits an offence and is liable, upon conviction, to imprisonment for a term not less than ten years.”
Grace Gakii who is a gender expert and is a member of the G10, which is a women rights movement, explains that the initial proposed amendment was even much stiffer.
She observes that the original proposal recommended a jail term of up to 20 years for gangs subjecting women to such a serious degree of public humiliation.
“But the ten years are still a big win and not just for women and girls, but for the society. Women’s rights are human rights and what is bad for women is also bad for men and vice versa,” Gakii says.
Further saying that this is a very progressive article in the law “because it speaks to not just physical and sexual assault but to abuse and humiliation.”
“When you strip a woman you are also stripping her off her dignity and respect as a human being,” she emphasizes.
But exactly two years since the heinous activities put Kenya on the global map for all the wrong reasons, many are still decrying the status of women in Kenya and particularly as it pertain to their safety in public spaces.
As statistics continue to paint a picture of a society that is growing increasingly intolerant of the female gender, many experts are calling for more sustainable interventions to safeguard the rights of women and girls.
According to the most recent Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014, four out of every 10 women undergo some form of violence, whether physical or sexual.
“In fact the numbers are much higher because we are still in a society that only views violence in two dimensions, rape or beating but there is more than that,” Gakii expounds.
“When a woman is stripped, insulted and very abusive language is used against her, that is a serious form of violence and this is becoming the norm,” she says.
She says that while social media has proven to be a powerful tool for social transformation, it has also provided accessible and affordable platforms for the abuse of women.
“We now have perpetrators of all manner of violence who want to abuse women and girls but also go that extra mile of posting the abuse online and this is criminal,” Gakii says.
With now more women in power this has not gone unnoticed with various women rendering their voice to fight violence against women and girls.
According to Leah Mumo, a Member of the County Assembly in Nairobi County, the issue of safety of women must be a matter of priority “and am personally very passionate about the rights of girls for they are indeed not safe in our society.”
She notes that cases of defilement are on the rise “and if perpetrators are not sparing defenseless babies how about women in general?”
Senator Janet Teiyaa concurs saying that women are now more at risk of predators than they have ever been “and this is not an issue for women to handle, but as a society we must wake up to this fact and do whatever is necessary to ensure that all of us are safe.”
Gakii says that women might be safe from stripping “for now” but they are still not safe in public spaces.
“We recently heard of this incidence where a young woman said she had been robbed in broad daylight at a busy bus stop by matatu operators. How then can we say women are safe,” Gakii poses.
She further states that the fact that women are constantly viewed as easy targets to take from “whether it is sexually, to overpower physically, to rob and to simply humiliate speaks to just how retrogressive we have become.”
Gakii says that it also speaks to underlying issues where a patriarchal society has refused to evolve and to embrace a whole new world where women are free to explore and to live their dreams without fear of violence or intimidation.
“The issue of the safety of women is quite complex, it addressing actual or potential violence, but also imagined. Do women feel safe?” she poses.
“How women feel about their safety whether the threat is real or imagined is important,” she expounds.
Senator Teiyaa says that working with men and even boys for a safer society is very critical.
Njoki says that this partnership must come down to the slums where the safety of women remains a dream.
“Working with boda boda operators as well as the young men in the public transport sector is important because they are usually the ones who are quick to start these violations,” she says.
Further saying that women were previously afraid to take boda boda or public transportat night but these days “it does not matter the time, anything can happen to a woman in broad day light and people will just record and share on social media but they will not defend her.”
Gakii says that though information and awareness is key it must be backed by the full force of the law.
“We all have seen those stickers and reflector jackets calling for protection of women and girls, those stickers must be supported by the law. Perpetrators must feel the full force of the law if we are to make this country safer for women,” she says.
Further saying that campaigns for the prevention and elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls should not be an event but an everyday process.
TRIO DENIED BAIL FOR STRIPPING, ROBBING, ASSAULTING WOMAN IN 2014
A Nairobi bus crew facing charges of stripping and sexually assaulting a female passenger will defend themselves on November 15, a Nairobi court ruled after they were found with a case to answer.
Trial magistrate Daniel Ogembo put on defence Githurai 44 bus driver Nicholas Chege Mwangi and conductor Meshack Mburu Mwangi, as well as Edward Kamau.
“ Considering the evidence on record and the testimony of the 12 prosecution witnesses, l find that they have a case to answer and order they be put on their defence,” he said.
The three are also charged with a capital offence stating they robbed the woman of personal effects amounting to Sh41,700. All the accused are being represented by lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui.
They have been also accused of robbing the 21-year-old woman, identified only by her initials H.E.W., between September 19 and 20, 2014 at Millennium petrol station in Githurai 44, Kasarani, Nairobi county.
They are also accused of sexually assaulting her. Kamau is alleged to have recorded the indecent act, which was circulated on social media. Over 15 witnesses completed their testimony in the case.
The accused persons, who have been in custody since they first appeared in court, were denied bail by former trial magistrate Lucy Mbugua after the prosecution opposed their release on bond, stating that the possible punishment awaiting the suspects, a death penalty and possible life sentence, may scare them away from attending further sessions.
Prosecutor Duncan Ondimu had also informed the court that their safety “may not be guaranteed outside the court’s jurisdiction, as the act had drawn public outrage” after a video clip showing the assault went viral.
While dismissing their bail application, Mbugua said there are enough compelling reasons to deny the m bail, terming their sexual offences “gross and abhorrent.”
By MIRIAM LESENI