GBV: How lack of family values is siring cycle of violence

Kenya has recently witnessed a surge in gender-based violence killings, infliction of grievous injuries and general assaults among intimate partners.

Gender-based violence among intimate partners has become rampant, affecting four of 10 women in Kenya, according to a 2014 survey report from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

Some 11 women were killed by their partners in February 2019. The victims were killed by men they were or had been in intimate relationships with.

Civil society and researchers argue that this is a demanding human rights, health and developmental issue and have recommended that priority be given to helping those experiencing violence and to preventive and penal measures for perpetrators.

Socio-economic violence

Psychologist Peninah Ndonye of Makueni County Referral Hospital said GBV can also happen among couples and age mates and is not limited to people in intimate relationships.

She said the violence is also varied – physical, emotional, psychological and social-economic.

“We have seen women subjected to physical gender-based violence by their fathers, brothers or uncles and others subjected to social-economic violence by their fathers, brothers, husbands and, brothers-in-law among others,” she said.

“For instance, when a woman is denied a share of her father’s or husband’s wealth or deprived of financial or economic gain of any form, she becomes a victim of social-economic violence.

“And many women have fallen victim to this, where their husbands are, for example, preventing them from engaging in economic activity like employment or doing business. Others are deprived of their matrimonial property by in-laws.”

But men are also falling victim to gender-based violence and some are getting killed.

For instance, George Ogamo was killed on the night of September 11 allegedly by his wife Peninah Wanjiru Muchemi during a domestic fight in their rented house in Waithaka, Dagoretti sub-county in Nairobi. Ogamo was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife.

Ms Muchemi was arrested the next day and handed over to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Kabete.

The cause of their fight is only known to the two but Ongamo succumbed to his injuries at their house.

Domestic fight

A woman who scalded her husband with boiling water in a domestic fight after he allegedly returned home with a female companion has pleaded guilty in a Kibera court to charges of causing him grievous bodily harm.

Pamela Mwendwa admitted causing the injuries to Sebastian Irukan on July 23. The couple are married and have a child.

Ms Mwendwa told Principal Magistrate Sharon Maroro that her husband returned home with another woman and told her she had found the right one. That is what triggered the attack.

Mr Irukan suffered injuries in the neck, shoulder and parts of his abdomen.

In an incident of domestic violence that turned fatal, Ann Muronji was arrested on August 28 over the death of her three-month-old baby who was fatally injured as Ms Muronji and her husband fought in their house.

Ms Muronji and her husband could face charges of either murder, manslaughter or infanticide when investigations are completed.

The two had fought over infidelity because Ms Muronji’s husband suspected the infant was the child of another man and was on a revenge mission. And the suspicion caused the fight that led to the death of the child.

These are just a few of the domestic incidents that happen daily, even though not all lead to deaths.

A survey by the International Centre for Research on Women in 2010 identified how economic and work stress can lead to gender-based violence through feelings of low self-esteem and inadequacy and the need to reassert dominance to preserve status among men.

Several studies have also identified the phenomenon of increased violence relating to female empowerment, where men are not engaged or assisted.

National Crime Research Centre (NCRC) director Gerard Wandera blames GBV on poor parenting.

Speaking at the national state of crime conference on June 30, Mr Wandera said home-based violence is projected to increase due to the situation of parents not raising their families guided by good values.

Family values

"The recently concluded study commissioned by the President … on protecting the family, established that parents in Kenya have largely accepted that the breakdown of family values is almost a blame of the way they are raising the family,” Mr Wandera said.

A 2018 study by NCRC similarly found that violence against women in general, and domestic violence in particular, is intricately linked to real or perceived fulfilment of masculine identities amid economic pressures.

Lawyer Lydia Abuya agrees with Mr Wandera. She equally blames the rise of GBV on social breakdown and delays by courts to conclude and punish perpetrators of gender-based violence.

She says the number of men raised by abusive fathers is on the rise and that means they are also likely to be violent to their spouses because they learnt it from the best – their very own fathers.

“Then we have men who did not have a father when growing up and did not have anyone to learn from, about being a man. They did not have anyone to teach them dispute resolution mechanisms or anyone to learn from,” she said.

“Our input on men is decreasing while our expectations on them are piling up. In fact, because of the void left by absent fathers, some boys learn things from violent movies, practise with their violent peers and grow up with such habits because they have never had anyone to help them decipher masculinity. These men cannot be expected to be devoid of violence when they grow up.”