How poverty puts women at the risk of abuse and death

Gender actors, activists and Migori residents march along Migori-Rongo Highway during the launch of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence in Migori town, Migori County. [ Anne Atieno,Standard ]

We are currently in the middle of the annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. This year’s theme is, 'Every 11 Minutes, one woman is killed' and 'Unite to end Violence against Women'.

Kenya is right in the thick of this year’s theme as femicide and gender-based violence (GBV) have become the order of the day with new, heinous crimes against women being reported every week. But the abuse and killing of Kenyan women is not only happening locally.

Earlier this week, Larry Madowo, through his personal X account, recounted the plight of Kenyan women working in Saudi Arabia. According to messages and videos that he received, Kenyan caregivers and nurse practitioners in the country endure terrible mistreatment, including overwork and abuse. The government has yet to respond to the latest reports of violations against its citizens. Closer home, the violence is more pronounced.

The poverty and underemployment that forces women to seek employment abroad combines with the gender of these women to ensure that they face unique conditions that result in their suffering and, sometimes, their untimely death. Femicide and GBV are inasmuch a gender issue as a class issue. Poor women are more likely to face the conditions that put them at risk of death, as, reflecting on the circumstances surrounding femicide lately, money is the motivating factor behind both luring them and committing violence against them.

Indeed, discourse online lately has focused on the nefarious idea that if women do not want to be murdered, they should not take advantage of men by spending their money without giving back anything in return. This ideology has been so pervasive lately that it has even been taken up by comedians. Earlier this week, popular media personalities Terrence Creative and Kate Actress published a skit showing a man treating a woman to a date of nyama choma and drinks. The presumably older man then asks for a room, to which the woman expresses disagreement and chooses to stay put. The man then states that he will not pay the food bill for a woman who does not put out, and leaves her to figure out the bill for herself.

This is only the most popular of skits with the theme that women who spend men’s money deserve to be mistreated. In fact, the skit itself makes brief mention of femicide, addressing it but not critiquing the idea that women who spend men’s money without reciprocating in kind deserve to be murdered. The zeitgeist points to a general agreement with this ideology, which is, at the very least, worrying.

It is important that we acknowledge not only the situation that unites us with the rest of the world in acknowledging that every 11 minutes a woman is killed, but also that we get to the bottom of the ideology that makes this to happen so frequently. This would involve looking at the media, beyond social media, that has us believing that women spending men’s money without reciprocation is grounds for murder. Already, from a very young age, boys are exposed to red pill content from the manosphere that tells them how men should be and how women should be. We do not critique enough the impact that viral media personalities such as Amerix and Andrew Kibe locally, and Andrew Tate and podcasts such as FreshnFit abroad, have on blooming minds. Parents ought to be mindful of the content that their sons consume.

Indeed, the Internet can be a slippery slope that ought to be monitored for the sake of ensuring that young men learn to respect young women. If this is not done, the problem will never be addressed, and deaths will only increase. As older people in society, we must be at the forefront of protecting young minds, if ultimately we are to protect young women.

Ms Gitahi is an international lawyer