Roundup: Kenya's men, women face new aspects of domestic violence

For a long time, domestic violence was viewed as women's issue in Kenya since they were taken to be main victims and their cases were commonly reported following increased campaigns against the vice.

But things have changed and men are no longer mere perpetrators but victims too, and their suffering has in recent days been popular reportage in Kenyan media.

And so has been adoption of the term gender-based violence (GBV) encompassing acts likely to cause or result to physical, emotional, psychological and economic harm on both men and women.

This is unlike domestic violence which usually took account of violence against women only.

This emerging reality of men falling victims to domestic violence is featured in 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHs), which shows 44 percent of men between 15-49 years having experienced physical violence against 45 percent of women.

Similarly, 21 percent of married men were emotionally abused by their spouses with a further four percent experiencing sexual violence.

For anti-GBV advocates, the violence against women and men is now a national crisis that requires collaborative efforts to solve.

"Trends of gender based violence are changing. There are cases of women violating the rights of men only that men don't report," said June Ashioya, an advocate of the High Court and member of FIDA-Kenya, which draws membership from female lawyers and implements activities on human rights of women and campaigns against gender based violence in Kenya.

Ashioya, who has handled cases of domestic violence against men, says fear of reporting the violations hampers search for their justice.

"I have handled about five cases from Nairobi (Kenya's capital) in which men have seriously been violated by their wives but they fear going to the police station to report because they feel embarrassed and humiliated. But you see there is nothing much you can do about it if they don't report," she said.

Globally, one in every seven men has experienced domestic violence according to World Health Organization (WHO), meaning men should also be encouraged to speak up, based on Ashioya's argument.

However, women in Kenya continue to face new aspects of violence despite the existence of numerous laws in support of elimination of all forms of discrimination against them.

Presently, conflicts over finances, infidelity, matrimonial property and inheritance make up the major causes of violence against women, Ashioya told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"Matrimonial property is a major cause where property is registered in the name of the man and the wife and now probably the man wants to marry second wife and so on or separates from the wife causing a conflict."

And so has gender-based violence developed into a crisis amounting to huge losses in collective calculated value annually, said Cyprian Nyamwamu, a gender and governance expert and director of Future of Kenya Foundation, which integrates matters of gender based violence and governance in its activities.

From studies, gender based violence affects the economic, social, physical and psychological status of the victim as it affects the day-to-day activities of the affected, family members and close relatives.

"The National Gender and Equality Commission finalized a study last year which basically shows the cost of gender based violence has gone beyond 300 million U.S. dollars annually and that is massive. It now tells you that is a crisis and that is how we should describe it," said Nyamwamu.

At this point, churches, religious organizations and traditional institutions ought to be actively engaged in curbing this vice if the fight against the incident is to be won, argued Nyamwamu.

Kenya is predominantly a patriarchal society, a cultural order which continues to put women at a disadvantageous position in the efforts towards ending violence against them.

In this regard, Nyamwamu advocated for active inclusion of men in anti-GBV campaigns and programs.

"Men must now step forward and fight for their families. They should be the one providing care and protection to their families rather than being factors or agents of gender based violence," he said.

Kenya has enacted various laws against domestic violence among them Protection Against Domestic Violence, Matrimonial Property Act, Marriage Act and even Prohibition Against Female Genital Mutilation Act and the country is viewed in the international arena to have been making steady efforts toward ending the vice.

However, Nyamwamu said the government needs to invest more resources toward the enforcement of the existing laws. Endit