• Substance abuse, low education levels, and economic disparities also increase the likelihood of violence.
• Kenya has opened up a special unit at the office of DPP to deal with harmful practices against women and girls.
Image: COURTESY.
Children who are exposed to violence are likely to become victims or perpetrators of violence, a study by the Commonwealth Secretariat shows.
The study on health facility responses to gender violence found that witnessing or experiencing abuse as a child and substance abuse increase the likelihood of violence.
Other risk factors for violence were low levels of education and economic disparities between men and women.
The Violence Against Children Study conducted in 2010 revealed that 66.0 per cent of girls and 73.1 per cent of boys experienced physical violence before age 18.
About 31.9 per cent of girls and 17.5 per cent of boys experienced sexual violence, while 25.8 per cent boys and 31.9 per cent boys reported emotional violence.
Others risk factors noted include a lack of punishment for perpetrators of violence, weak laws preventing violence and normalised use of violence within the family or society to address conflict.
According to UN Women, 39 per cent of women in Kenya face lifetime physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence.
Some 26 per cent of women has faced physical or sexual intimate partner violence in the last year.
The Youth and Gender CS Margaret Kobia said recently that the government has set up a special unit at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to handle acts of violence and harmful practices against women and girls.
"We are implementing a joint programme with civil societies of preventing and responding to gender violence and working with the Judiciary on strengthening access to justice," she said.
She spoke on September 19 during the women's affairs ministers' meeting in Nairobi.
CS Kobia has also previously cited patriarchy as a hurdle to attaining gender equality and representation.
"The law that ties our hands is cultural, whenever we want to make a change, we are reminded of patriarchy," she said.
"Cultural bonds continue to hinder women in making progress and taking charge and control of our own lives," she added.
The study recommended challenging social norms that support authority and control over women and sanction or condone gender violence.
It also recommended reducing levels of childhood exposure to violence, reforming discriminatory family law and strengthening women's economic and legal rights.
The elimination of gender inequalities in access to formal wage employment and secondary education was also proposed as a solution.
Rawwida Baksh, gender and development consultant said countries identify gender violence as a root cause of women's unequal participation in social, economic and political spheres.