Upsurge of women killed in Africa

Activists protest, demand change

MURANG’A, Kenya — A wave of gruesome killings of women across several African countries in recent weeks has prompted outrage and indignation, triggered a wave of protests, and precipitated calls for governments to take decisive action against gender-based violence.

Kenyans were shocked when 31 women were killed in January after they were beaten, strangled, or beheaded, activists and police said. In Somalia, a pregnant woman died this month after her husband allegedly set her on fire. In the West African nation of Cameroon, a powerful businessperson was arrested in January on accusations, which he has denied, of brutalizing dozens of women.

The upsurge in killings is part of a broader pattern that worsens during economic hard times and pandemic lockdowns, human rights activists say. An estimated 20,000 gender-related killings of women were recorded in Africa in 2022, the highest rate in the world, according to the United Nations. Experts believe the true figures are likely higher.

“The problem is the normalization of gender-based violence and the rhetoric that, yes, women are disposable,” said Njeri wa Migwi, the co-founder of Usikimye — Swahili for “Don’t be silent” — a Kenyan nonprofit working with victims of genderbased violence.

Feminist scholar Diana Russell popularized the term femicide — the killing of women or girls because of their gender — to create a category that distinguishes it from other homicides. According to a UN report, the killings are often carried out by male partners or close family members and are preceded by physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.

Critics say that many African leaders, as well as police, ignore or downplay the problem or even blame victims.

To coincide with Valentine’s Day, women’s rights campaigners in Kenya organized a vigil they called “Dark Valentine” in the capital, Nairobi, to commemorate the women who have been killed. At least 500 women have been victims of femicide in Kenya between 2016 and 2023, according to a recent report by the Africa Data Hub, a group of data organizations working with journalists in several African countries that analyzed cases reported in Kenyan news media.

About 300 people donning black T-shirts waved red roses, lit red candles, and observed a minute of silence.

“Why should we have to keep reminding people that women need to be alive,” said Zaha Indimuli, a co-organizer of the event.

Among the women whose names were read at the vigil was Grace Wangari Thuiya, a 24year-old beautician who was killed in Nairobi in January.

Two days before her death, Thuiya visited her mother in Murang’a County, about 35 miles northeast of Nairobi. During the visit, her mother, Susan Wairimu Thuiya, said they had spoken about a 20-year-old college student who was dismembered just days before and what seemed like an epidemic of violence against women.

Susan Thuiya cautioned her daughter, whom she described as ambitious and jovial, to be careful in her dating choices.

“Fear was gripping my heart that day,” Thuiya said of their last encounter.

Two days later, police called Thuiya to inform her that her daughter had died after her boyfriend assaulted and repeatedly stabbed her. Thuiya said her daughter had never revealed that she was seeing someone. Police said they arrested a man in the apartment where Grace Thuiya was killed.

“This is all a bad dream that I want to wake up from,” Thuiya said.