•A report titled Homicide Country Data released in 2022 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime states that 706 cases of femicide, or 2.64 cases per 100,000 women, occurred in Kenya in 2021.
•More women have called for an end to the victim-blaming narratives using the hashtag #StopKillingWomen.
Image: handout
The recent cases of alleged murders of women within Nairobi have drawn reactions from Kenyans on social media with civil societies calling for action.
The case of an unidentified woman’s body found chopped and stashed in a sack in Kasarani on Sunday caused an uproar on social media platforms, prompting Kenyans to call for action over the looming femicide problem.
This came a few days after socialite Starlet Wahu was found murdered at an Airbnb in South B, Nairobi.
A report titled Homicide Country Data released in 2022 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime states that 706 cases of femicide, or 2.64 cases per 100,000 women, occurred in Kenya in 2021.
Based on the same research, Kenya is one of the countries with the highest rates of female homicides and female abuse.
Civil societies and human rights organisations together with women on social media have condemned the recent reported killings of women.
They have called to action relevant authorities to address the issue.
An organisation named Feminists in Kenya has posted on its official X platform condemning the escalating femicide cases, as well as any notion suggesting that women perceived as living outside patriarchal standards deserve death.
"Such attitudes are unacceptable and contribute to a dangerous culture of violence against women," they said
"In calling for accountability, we recognise the inadequacies of Kenya's criminal justice system to effectively provide redress to survivors and victims. We urge all relevant institutions to take necessary and urgent steps in safeguarding women's constitutional right to life,” Feminists in Kenya wrote on X
On Sunday, a 25-year-old mother of three was found murdered in Kwa Ndomo, Kilifi county in a house where she reportedly lived with her lover.
The lover is said to have fled the scene and his whereabouts remain unknown.
More women have called for an end to the victim-blaming narratives using the hashtag #StopKillingWomen.
“Four femicide cases, the reported ones. That's one murder every two days. This is a national crisis. We cannot be counting the number of women's bodies murdered and think this is a normal occurrence,” Njeri Wa Migwi wrote on X.
Another X user, Inamulindwa (Sugar Venom) wrote: Women are killed for refusing advances & for accepting advances, for taking money gifted to them & for refusing that same money, for consenting to sex & for saying no to sex, at home & outside, by strangers & family alike; tell men to stop killing women!! Stop killing us!!