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International Journal of Professional Practice | Volume 3, Issue 4, October December 2012 389

Re-Configuring Masculinity in addressing Gender-Based
Violence in PostConflict Kenya.


Awuor Ponge
2

Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR), Kenya; and
Institute of Education (IoE), University of London.

P.O. Box 6314 00100 GPO Nairobi, Kenya.
E-Mail: pongeweb@yahoo.co.uk ; awuorponge@gmail.com
Telephone (Mobile): +254 721 962 660

Abstract:

Violence against women takes place at all levels of society and is one of the worst forms of violence not
only to women but to humanity as a whole. Gender-based violence is intricately connected to all other
forms of violence. During the conflict that resulted from the disputed Presidential elections in Kenya,
women bore the brunt of the violence as they were raped and mercilessly killed. Change efforts focusing
only on women, to reverse the trends of gender-based violence in Kenya will not succeed, unless men
are incorporated, since men commit the overwhelming majority of violent acts against women and girls.
Most of the programmes that have been initiated to address the issue have had as their core aim,
assisting the victims through offering shelter, counseling services and legal aid. It becomes incumbent
upon any agency striving to get to the root of this evil, to try and address the cause rather than just
treating the symptom.

The strategy of involving men in activities to curb GBV helps in building a public image that GBV is
not only a womens problem, but a problem affecting both men and women. This study is based on the
premise that if cultural perceptions of the community are altered, gender-based roles re-assessed and
men involved in GBV sensitization, then the prevalence of GBV will be greatly reduced in Kenya.
Institutional structures have been put in place to ensure that the rights of women are respected and that
all forms of violence are eliminated completely for purposes of peaceful co-existence. The recent
promulgation of the new Constitution in Kenya which heralds a new political dispensation is also seen
as a catalyst in the fight for womens rights and an attempt at re-configuring masculinities. All these will
come in handy in the fight against GBV.

KEY WORDS: Gender-Based Violence; Masculinity; Post-Conflict; Security; Co-existence.


IJPP 2012, 3 (4): 389-405.

2
Awuor Ponge is an Associate Research Fellow and Monitoring & Evaluation Officer at the Institute of Policy Analysis and
Research (IPAR) Kenya and a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Development Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social
Sciences at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He is also a Commonwealth Scholarship Fellow at the Institute of
Education (IoE) at the University of London, pursuing a second Master of Arts Degree in Education, Gender and
International Development (MA EGID).
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Introduction:

All Kenyans are entitled to equality under
the lawand to be free from discrimination
in education, in employment, in health care
provision, in housing and so on. All
Kenyans are entitled to security of the
personand to be free from violence. All
Kenyans are entitled to privacyand to be
free from arbitrary and illegal intrusions
on this privacy. Regardless of what
prejudices and stereotypes persist about
Kenyans who happen to be lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transsexual or intersex, these
entitlements stand. Kenya Human
Rights Commission.

Gender violence is recognised
internationally to be a common feature of
women's daily experiences. Experience in a
number of countries shows that women and
men can be mobilized to overcome
violence in all its forms and that effective
public measures can be taken to address
both the causes and the consequences of
violence [Beijing Platform for Action,
1995:Art. 113, 126(g)].
2
Mens groups
mobilizing against gender violence are
necessary allies for change. However, most
of the literature discussing violence against
women fails to recognise the implications
of working with men to curb the vice that is
Gender-Based violence.


2
Beijing Platform of Action (1995), Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World Conference
on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace,
Beijing, 15 September 1995. Available online from the
University of Minnesota website at:
<http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/e5dplw.htm>
Accessed on 30 October 2012.
Violence against women takes place at all
levels of society and within all social
classes. It is one of the worst forms of
violence not only to women but to
humanity as a whole. It takes many forms,
including intimate partner violence (marital
rape), rape, domestic violence (wife-
battery), sexual assault and harassment
including sexual coercion, trafficking of
women, girls and boys and several harmful
traditional practices including female
genital mutilation/cutting, early marriage,
bride inheritance and many others. Marital
rape, especially has been given a black out
in that, in as much as rape is a criminal
offence punishable by law, there is no legal
protection from rape within marriages in
Kenya. A survey carried out by Kimuna
and Djamba (2008:333) indicated that 40%
of married women reported at least one
type of violence; 36% were physical and
13% were sexual.

In 1993 the United Nations General
Assembly adopted the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence Against Women.
According to Article 1 of the declaration,
violence against women includes:
Any act of gender-based violence
that results in, or is likely to result
in, physical, sexual or psychological
harm or suffering to women,
including threats of such acts,
coercion or arbitrary deprivations of
liberty, whether occurring in public
or private life.
3


Violence against women is recognized as a
human rights violation in many agreements

3
The UN General Assembly during its 48
th
. Session and 85
th
.
Plenary made this Resolution A/RES/48/104.
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and international and regional treaties and
national commitments. As such, these same
tools should be used in working towards the
prevention of these crimes. Among the
international treaties that address Gender-
based violence include The Cairo
Programme of Action of 1994, which
recognised that gender violence is an
obstacle to women's reproductive and
sexual health and rights. The Rome Statute
of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
of 1998 includes sexual violence rape,
sexual slavery, enforced prostitution and
forced pregnancy, within the definition of
crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The United Nations also in its Millennium
Declaration of 2000 proposed to combat all
forms of violence against women.

Women lack bodily autonomy and at one
time, this prompted the then WHO
Director-General, Dr. Gro Harlem
Brundtland, to comment that We will not
achieve progress against HIV until women
gain control of their sexuality.
4
It is their
lack of autonomy that makes them
vulnerable not only to violence, but also to
the collaterals that come with such
violence, including but not limited to
HIV/AIDS. One African Statesman once
noted that:
Women in Africa toil all their lives
on land that they do not own, to
produce what they do not control,
and at the end of the marriage
through divorce or death, they can
be sent away empty-handed.
5


4
The WHO Director-General, Dr. Gro Harlem Bruntland,
addressing the XIIIth. International AIDS Conference in
Durban, South Africa on July 11, 2000.
5
Tanzanian President, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere,
addressing the African Preparatory Conference, Third World
Conference on Women, 1984.
Unless gender-based violence is recognized
as a community-wide issue, it remains
marginalized and ignored as a womens
issue and a domestic issue. Change efforts
focusing only on women will not succeed,
unless men are incorporated, since men
commit the overwhelming majority of
violent acts against women and girls.

The Kenyan Situation in Context:

Data from the 2003 KDHS imply that
domestic violence may contribute to
separation and divorce. Almost two-thirds
(64 percent) of divorced or separated
women report having experienced violence
since age 15, compared with 53 percent of
married women and 30 percent of those
widowed. A surprisingly high proportion
(40 percent) of women who have never
been married report having experienced
physical violence since age 15 (CBS, 2004:
241). Analysis by marital status reveals
that women who are divorced, separated, or
widowed are more likely to be exposed to
violence (60 percent) than their married (42
percent) and never-married (25 percent)
counterparts. However, there has been a
sizeable reduction in the proportion of
women who say they have experienced
physical violence since age 15from 49
percent reported in the 2003 KDHS to 39
percent in the 2008-09 KDHS (KNBS &
ICF Macro, 2010:247). 56% of crime in
Kenya between 2001 and 2009 was
committed by young people aged 16 to 25
years old (Sivi-Njonjo, 2010:185). The
African Population and Health Research
Centre in their Policy Brief note that the
only legal protection for Kenyan women in
cases of domestic violence is the general
law on assault, which they observe is
inadequate for protecting women from
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marital rape, because it requires evidence of
a physical struggle or witness (APHRC,
2010:2).

Studies outside Africa have found that
womens empowerment or financial
independence can protect women from
violence by their partners, namely in
settings where women have a better status
in the community. According to the
CEDAW 7th Kenya Country Report, rape
(including attempted rape) that is reported
to the police stations has risen considerably.
The figures are even higher than those of
corruption which is considered endemic to
Kenya. In 2007, the rape figures reported
was 3, 517 compared to that of 177 for
corruption. The rape figures in 2008
reduced slightly to 3, 126 but still this was
about 24 times higher than that of
corruption at 133 (Kenya, 2009:9).
Arguably, Kenya is a patriarchal society
where domestic violence is actually
recognised as one way of disciplining ones
wife; and even the society socializes a
woman to anticipate this kind of discipline.
Among the Luo community of Western
Kenya, this kind of violence is emphasized
to such an extent that if a wife dies before
having been beaten by the husband even
once, then the husband has to cane her in
death, before customs can allow her to be
buried.

A World Bank study revealed that in
Kenya, 41% of women have been sexually
abused; 45% of girls have been sexually
abused; 61% of women have been
physically abused one time or several times
as adults. The findings also report that more
than 60% of cases of physical violence
experienced by girls occur at schools
(World Bank, 2003:32). One out of every
four women, experience violence from
husbands with 40% experiencing physical
violence and 16% experiencing sexual
violence (IEA, 2008:39). This information
is corroborated by the survey by Kimuna
and Djamba which indicated that 40% of
married women reported at least one type
of violence; 36% were physical and 13%
were sexual (Kimuna & Djamba,
2008:333). Other risk factors include
having a husband who drinks alcohol; and
being in sales, agricultural, or unskilled
jobs significantly increased the wifes risk
of physical and sexual abuse. Wifes
education had significant effect on both
physical and sexual abuse. The age of the
wife and number of children is also
significantly associated only with physical
abuse (Kimuna & Djamba, 2008:333). A
study by WHO found that 42 percent of
women in Kenya are regularly beaten by
their husbands. However, FIDA Kenya
believes that the true figure should be
closer to 70 percent (IEA, 2009: 2).

Many programmes have been developed
over time to try and address the gender-
based violence issue and especially as it
target the women. Most of these
programmes have had as their core aim,
assisting the victims through offering
shelter, counseling services and legal aid.
However, it is incumbent upon any agency
striving to get to the root of this evil to try
and address the cause rather than just
treating the symptom. The cause of all this
can be attributed to the violent nature of
man. How then, does man perceive himself,
and what do they perceive of GBV? The
socialization process of the men by
patriarchy makes them treat women as
lesser beings they see themselves as
superior to women. There are cultural
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beliefs in Kenya that make the male child
believe that all the hard and difficult things
are to be done by the men while the soft
and easy things are to be done by the
women, who are by implication, the weaker
sex. This develops into the psychology of
the male-child and continues into
adulthood; no wonder, the male-child
always wants to dominate the female-child.

Cultural perceptions of women's sexual and
reproductive obligations in marriage rob
women of bodily autonomy. There is the
belief that there is the irrevocable consent
by the wife at marriage to sex, and this
therefore leads us to question whether there
is a possibility of marital rape? Armstrong
(1998) in attempt to understand the
individual as well as psychological causes
for abusive behaviour in man; pointed out
that what was responsible for the violence
episodes are both normative as well as
socio-cultural risk factors. The payment of
bride price supports the belief that women
are the property of their families and, later,
their husbands; and that husbands who pay
bride price are then entitled to beat their
wives. Similarly, such kinds of marriage
traditions undermine the ability of women
to escape abusive relationships. Due to
unequal property rights and women's
inability to take their children from the
fathers' homes, women find themselves
unable to leave abusive relationships.

Another cultural activity that is common
among the Kenyan communities is that of
wife inheritance and widow-cleansing. This
is usually very common in the Western
parts of the country among the Luo and the
Luhya communities particularly. When a
womans husband dies, she is treated as the
property of the community and at times, is
not even given the option of choosing who
will inherit her. In the event that she is
unwilling to voluntarily accept the
proposed member of the family, she is
forced into it against her will. A majority
of the Kenyan communities also have
cultural preferences for boy-children and
this would mean that in the event that one
has both girl and boy children, the fathers
would opt to education the boys and leave
alone the girls. This has disadvantaged the
girl-child from the very beginning and
makes them vulnerable to the whims of the
boy-child.

Religion has also been blamed for breeding
misogyny in children and even adults. Most
of these are found in the respective
religious teaching starting from the African
traditional religions to the western
religions. In the traditional society, it was
only the men who could be allowed inside
the sacred places of worship as the women
were considered dirty. It was also the
same men who could offer sacrifices to the
gods. When Islam came at the Kenyan
Coast, it came with the Quranic teachings
which place the women at a lower social
status compared to the men. Christianity
was not left behind in this because it also
taught that women could not occupy
positions of leadership in the church
because they were considered unclean.
These stereotypes have continued to
dominate the thinking of the men hence
perpetuating the culture of institutionalised
violence against the women. However, of
late, some Christian churches are
rebelling and have started admitting
women into church leadership positions and
some even allow them to preach in the
pulpit.

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Poverty is a great contributor to Gender-
based violence. In most Kenyans
communities, poverty has led the parents to
go to the extent of engaging their underage
daughters in commercial sex activities so as
to earn the daily bread for the family. This
has been the case in most of the
communities living in the arid and semi-
arid areas of the country. Even in the urban
slum areas, this habit persists. This has led
to the prevalence of cross-generational sex
where adults engage in sex with underage
girls in return for monetary benefits. There
is also the case of sexual coercion which is
exacerbated by poverty. Girls from poor
family backgrounds are readily coerced into
sexual relations for fear of losing their
source of income. This is especially the
case at the work places. There is also the
sugar-daddy and sugar-mummy effect
which is heightened by the decaying social
morals in the society.

Institutional structures have been put in
place to ensure that the rights of women are
respected and that all forms of violence are
eliminated completely for purposes of
peaceful co-existence. These institutions
include the Truth, Justice and
Reconciliation Commission (TJRC); the
National Cohesion and Integration
Commission (NCIC) and the Kenya
National Commission on Human Rights
(KNCHR). The recent promulgation of the
new Constitution in Kenya which heralded
a new political dispensation is also seen as
a catalyst in the fight for womens rights
and an attempt at re-configuring
masculinities. All these will come in handy
in the fight against GBV.

Why Men Commit Violence Against
Women:

According to Karanja (2003), the control
of sexual relations is with men. The
determination of marriage rests with the
father and brothers. Relations in the family
are under the husband. Who the women
sleep with is all under the control of men. If
things go right, the credit goes to men. If
things go wrong, the blame goes to women.
Therefore, responsibility for STDs and HIV
is put on womenThe prevention of AIDS
always focuses on how to control women's
sexuality, as is always the case. So when
they talk about virginity; they are talking
about womenWomen have no cultural or
legal power to control safe sex (Karanja,
2003:22).
6


Studies have found that as a mans
educational status increases, his likelihood
for physically assaulting a partner
decreases. The social and economic
background of a woman has a bearing on
her chances of experiencing physical
violence. The prevalence of physical
violence generally increases with the age of
a woman as well as with the number of
living children she has (KNBS & ICF
Macro, 2010: 247). The age of the women
is also another contributing factor as the
young women generally experience more
incidences of sexual violence, both in and
outside intimate partnerships. Krug et al.,
(2002:243 244) underscore the fact that
violence is at least in part a learned
behaviour. They come to this conclusion
after a study on the history of the victims
and the perpetrators of sexual violence, and

6
Human Rights Watch Consultant, Lisa Karanja, an Orville
Schell Fellow in the Womens Rights Division, interview with
Dr. Seggane Musisi, Head of Psychiatry Consultation at
Mulago Hospital, in Kampala on January 7, 2003.
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they came to the realization that a history of
violence has been consistently and highly
correlated to both carrying out and
experiencing intimate partner violence,
both physical and sexual. According to
Heise, Moore & Toubia (1995), sexual
coercion is the act of forcing (or attempting
to force) another individual through
violence, threats, verbal insistence,
deception, cultural expectations or
economic circumstances to engage in
sexual behaviour against her/his will and it
includes a wide range of behaviours from
violent forcible rape to more contested
areas that require young women to marry
and sexually service men not of their
choosing. This is usually a common
occurrence in work places especially
between junior female staff and their
seniors in hope of favours at the work
place. It is also common in cross-
generational sex where the senior male are
able to engage the minor girls in sex in
exchange for favours and gifts.

Women whose husbands drank alcohol
were significantly more likely to be victims
of both physical and sexual abuse than
those whose husbands did not drink alcohol
(Kimuna & Djamba, 2008: 337). Weak
community sanctions against intimate
partner violence appear to contribute to the
prevalence of violence against women in
particular settings, and the Kenyan urban
slum setting is no exception. Violence is
also used to gain control and impose
punishments in a variety of contexts,
including husbands against wives, parents
against children, and teachers against
pupils. Other factors that greatly contribute
to rising cases of gender-based violence
include the use of alcohol, drug abuse and
poverty. It has been found out that alcohol
acts as a trigger for violence by increasing
the likelihood for conflict; and it is also
established that those with a history of
alcohol and substance abuse are generally
more prone to violence. Poverty, as well,
appears to put women at greater risk of
sexual violence outside of intimate
partnerships just as it does within.

Women are the more disadvantaged lot. In
all situations of conflict, merely by virtue
of their gender identity, women are both
primary and secondary victims; they suffer
when they are themselves violated, and
they also suffer when their family members
are violated in that they have the
responsibility of looking after the injured
person or persons. Violence denies women
their most basic human rights as it limits
their access to resources, for example the
right to land, shelter and food, as well as
their freedom of expression and
association. Their ability to participate in
activities such as work, empowerment
programmes, and civic engagement is
affected. Many women are frequently not
economically independent; neither do they
usually own resources for sustaining their
livelihoods. Therefore, when their male
family members are injured or killed as a
result of the conflict, they lose
breadwinners, suffer the consequences of
being displaced from their land, and they
lose their status in the community.

Culture can be talked of as a double-edged
sword. In as much as it aggravates the
women's vulnerability, it also has
mechanisms for intervention such as public
shaming or community healing, that can be
mobilised to confront abuse.

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What are the Effects of GBV on the
Women?

Gender-based violence can result in many
negative consequences for women's health
and well-being as it has become a public
health and human rights problem
throughout the world (Guedes, 2004:1). It
can affect women and their children and
undermine the economic well-being of the
societies. According to the WHO, the
consequences of female genital
mutilation/cutting, for the health of women
can be severe, including obstetric problems
(antenatal, labour, delivery, post partum,
pregnancy outcome, maternal mortality,
and neonatal mortality); gynecological
problems, such as menstrual problems;
psychosexual problems, such as infertility
and urinary problems; and psychological
morbidity (WHO, 2000)
7
.

Gender-based violence has a great impact
on the economy, especially as it creates
strain on healthcare and judicial systems. It
also lowers worker productivity and
incomes; and lowers rates of accumulation
of both human and social capital. GBV on
women exhibits itself through emotional
and behavioral damage that can be
manifested in excessive drug & alcohol
use; depression; low self-esteem and post-
traumatic stress. These symptoms may then
lead to High-risk sex manifested in early
sexual debut, multiple partners, engaging in
unprotected intercourse and prostitution. As
a result of engaging in high-risk sex, the
women are exposed to unwanted

7
WHO (2000), The World Health Report 2000 Health
Systems: Improving Performance. Available online at
<http://www.who.int/whr/2000/en/index.html> Accessed on 30
October 2012.
pregnancies and STIs and HIV/AIDS.
Violence compromises HIV/AIDS
protection as the woman is not in a position
to negotiate with the perpetrator for
protection. The action is also performed
hurriedly in fear of being caught by the arm
of the law. To rid themselves of the
unwanted pregnancies, women may resort
to abortion or even commit suicide. These
not only increase the levels of morbidity
and mortality, but also raise the incidences
of maternal mortality. Other side effects of
high risk sex resulting from gender-based
violence include STIs and HIV/AIDS.
These lead to neonatal morbidity and
mortality, reproductive morbidity and
mortality and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Working with Perpetrators of Violence:

A study conducted by UNAIDS with men
in Tanzania found out that male heads of
households would wish to do more when
their partners are ill, but were curtailed by
cultural definitions of maleness and the
roles defined determined masculinity
(Aggleton & Warwick, 1998). In a study
conducted in South Africa, Wood & Jewkes
(1997) observe that the male had control
over sexuality. Among the informants
interviewed in a South African Township, it
was usual for male partners to define the
conditions and timing of sex. At the outset
of the relationship, the men encouraged
their partners to understand teenage love
affairs as necessarily involving penetrative
intercourse (Wood & Jewkes, 1997: 42).
The youth interviewed were aware of
power inequalities and double standards
operating within constructions of love and
sex, but resistance was complex in the
extreme because of male violence, and peer
pressure (ibid. p.43).
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According to Nascimento, Barker &
Marcondes (2002)
8
, there is the case of Guy
to Guy Project, which was an initiative in a
low income community in Rio de Janeiro
with the aim of engaging young men 15-24
on issues of gender violence and AIDS
prevention and reproductive health. The
youth were trained and supervised to
promote issues of gender violence and
HIV/AIDS prevention. The group initiating
the project, specifically decided to work
with young men because they represent a
pivotal reference for development of new
social interventions aiming at changing
attitudes and behavior leading to
development of a healthy relationship with
women.

The foregoing examples point to the need
to work with men, especially in the Kenyan
urban slums as a result of the post-election
violence, to bring in the healing process. It
would be unrealistic to treat the victims and
attempt to work with them to get them out
of the psychological trauma, while at the
same time ignoring the perpetrators. When
these are brought together in a working
relationship, they will be able to understand
the dangers of gender-based violence and
the need to stay harmoniously. Workshops
on GBV need to have as participants both
the victims and the perpetrators, so that
both are counseled jointly and through
confessions and apologies, good relations

8
Nascimento M, Barker G & Marcondes W. (2002), Guy to
Guy Project: Engaging Young Men in Gender Violence
Prevention and STI/AIDS. International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 2002 Jul 7-12; 14: Abstract No. E11676.
Available online at:
<http://www.iasociety.org/Abstracts/A8500.aspx>
Accessed on 30 October 2012.
will be established once again among the
erstwhile peaceful neighbours.

Re-Configuring Masculinities:

Masculinities take different definitions of
what it means to be a man in different
cultural contexts around the world. Mens
roles and responsibilities are largely
understood through the three main roles of
Provider, Protector and Procreator. The
performance of these roles and
responsibilities, therefore, is a critical factor
in mens understanding of masculinity. It is
important to observe that masculinity is a
social construction. There are so many
definitions of what constitute being a man
and these can change over time and from
place to place.

Masculinity is often defined in relation to
and in contrast to women: as boys and men
women are dependent upon, threatened
by, and vulnerable to. Lynne Segal (1993)
notes that masculinity gains its force from a
series of relations to what it can
subordinate. The author goes ahead to say
that, Masculinity is valued through the
various forms of power men take for
granted for example the power to exert
control over women, over other men, over
their own bodies, over machines and
technology. In her concluding remarks in
her paper, she notes that for those who are
searching for adequate ways of theorizing
and discussing masculinity and male
dominance, it is unhelpful simply to equate
the two and unhelpful to think in terms of a
discrete and omnipotent masculinity (Segal,
1993: 638).

Traditional notions of masculinity have
expectations of men to be controlling,
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aggressive, physically strong, heterosexual,
courageous and financial providers. To help
challenge these notions, it would be
important to first and foremost engage men
in their various roles as fathers, sons,
husbands and brothers. Men as fathers often
express great care and concern for the
safety and well being of their daughters, as
do sons for their mothers and sisters. Using
these relationships as entry points, it
becomes easy to talk more broadly about
gender roles and violence as an evil.

Social scientists have over time, adopted
the classical account of men and women's
socialization into contrasting normative sex
roles and that this is seen as necessary for
the socially functional sexual division of
labour within the nuclear family. However,
beyond the social functionality, there are
other psychological constructs that come
with the socialization process. Olsson
(1984) indicates that the male confirms and
proves his maleness, virility, through his
sexuality. It becomes the core, the very
essence around which he consciously and
unconsciously forms the idea about himself
as a man. Masculine ideas are associated
with violence, virility, and power. This
explains why the male sexual behaviour is
usually predatory and aggressive. When
masculinity is associated with aggression
and sex conquest, domineering sexual
behaviour and violence become not only a
means of structuring power relations
between men and women, but also a way of
establishing power relations among men.

Segal (1993) observes that feminists have
all along been grappling with the question
of understanding man, as they search for
evidence of increasing equality between the
sexes. However, little evidence if any is
there to show that there is any change in
mans dominance whether it be in the home
or the work place. It is as if the fate of
women had been sealed with the practices
of common cultural and political
institutions. Leonore Davidoff and
Catherine Hall (1987) quoted in Segal
(1993:626) argue in their historical study of
men and women in the nineteenth century,
that Masculinity' and 'femininity' are
constructs specific to historical time and
place. They are categories continually
being forged, contested, reworked and
reaffirmed in social institutions and
practices as well as a range of ideologies
(Segal, 1993:626).

CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY
RECOMMENDATIONS:

Conclusion:

To address the root cause of GBV, it would
be appropriate to work with the men who
are in most instances the perpetrators. This
can be done through education campaigns
and through addressing issues of
masculinity. There is need to use the media
both print and broadcast to advocate for
behaviour change around health and gender
issues, for example through radio, TVs,
theatre, pamphlets, newsletters and stickers.
Other activities that can involve men in the
fight to eradicate the society of GBV are
promoting new concepts of masculinity (re-
configuring masculinities), mobilizing men
and boys to engage in non-violence
activities and also initiating behaviour
change programs. Through education, the
central idea would be to educate the boys
from the earliest age (whether in school or
at home) that violence against anyone is
wrong. Also through education, the attitude
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a boy is exposed to may alter his perception
of the existing gender stereotypes.

It is important to note that the strategy of
involving men in activities to curb GBV
helps in building a public image that GBV
is not only a womens problem, but a
problem affecting both men and women.
There is need for inclusivity in addressing
the GBV issue. There is a strong potential
in work with men in local religious and
cultural institutions. Imams, priests, monks
and local civic leaders wield broad
influence and can serve as positive non-
violent role models. Programming to
address GBV should be survivor-centred as
well as perpetrator-centred, thus ensuring
safety of the survivor, confidentiality and
respect for the survivors, as well as
rehabilitating the perpetrators. The
Government should ensure that womens
and adolescent girls participation is
engaged fully, as well as engaging men and
young people.

There is need to develop Men Support
Groups, which comprise of people who
have been identified as perpetrators, so they
are counseled as well as offered treatment.
Through groupings like the GBV
Anonymous, the perpetrators can share
their experiences and through this kind of
therapy, may feel remorseful and not want
to go back to the same activities. The
community should identify dangerous
zones or community rape red spots, that
have been the sites of multiple assaults and
raise awareness about these areas through
public barazas, through village elders and
using modern technology through
billboards and media both print and
broadcast. The Community should be
involved in GBV discussions It should be
given the resources they need to end gender
based violence and discrimination.
Community mobilization activities should
be geared to challenge gender inequalities
related to reproductive health issues as well
as gender-based violence. Community
mobilization can be done through education
and also creating awareness on the evils of
GBV.

The State should provide legal aid for
survivors of abuse; while the CSOs and
CBOs should advocate for women's rights,
and lobby for progressive legislation
around sexual abuse, domestic violence and
affirmative action. There is need to
establish domestic violence and HIV/AIDS
campaigns specifically targeting men. This
form of education through mobilization and
awareness creation will make the men see
the disadvantages of sexually molesting the
women, and even infecting them with
HIV/AIDS. They will be able to appreciate
the role of the woman in the community
and understand that the resultant negative
effects of violence on the women actually
trickle down to the whole family and the
community at large. Since boys and men
are often the main problem in the fight
against gender-based violence, they are also
part of the solution; therefore, they must be
engaged at the grassroots level in order to
come up with community-based solutions.

The Government in partnership with
established research institutions should
institute research on aspects of gender-
based violence with a view to getting latest
statistics on cases of gender-based violence,
the rates of prosecution and convictions and
the punishments meted on the perpetrators.
This should help advice policy based on the
evidence, so that the government can know
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what measures to take to curb the menace
and how to help the victims as well as the
perpetrators.

Community elders and religious leaders
need to be identified and trained on the
dangers of gender-based violence, as they
have the greatest influence on the
community. The family being the first
instrument of socialisation for both girls
and boys should be the first place that a boy
is given the freedom to express his
emotions and should also be taught that the
girls are equal in all aspects and should
therefore be respected. This will go a long
way in dismantling the socially constructed
stereotypes that have been associated with
masculinity all this long.

Special units should be set up in police
stations especially for reporting violence
against women. The governments legal
and security departments must be revamped
and the culture of aggression and impunity
done away with once and for all, otherwise,
women will continue to be susceptible to
violence inside and outside their home. The
Donor community should work in
partnership with the local Civil Society
Organizations, Community Based
Organisations and others working on
gender-based violence to lobby government
to change laws and policies, especially as it
concerns violence based on gender. The
Donors and other International
Organisations can facilitate the CSOs and
CBOs through financial and technical
assistance.

Men should be given the opportunity to
challenge the customs and practices that
endanger the womens health, and support
the well-being of women. Generally, it has
been observed that men conform to
traditional gender roles and there are many
cultural prohibitions on men being visibly
involved in domestic activities. However,
they should be sensitised so that they begin
to resist traditional gender roles. For
example, it is regarded as a normal
occurrence when the mother is sick and the
father prepares food for the children and
also washes them; however, when the
mother is in good health, the man feels that
he cannot do such kind of work.

Recommendations and Policy
Prescriptions:

The State should address social
inequalities: There should be no
discrimination based on gender and
access to resources should be
equitable across the gender divide. It
should promote social justice and
equity in society and especially,
support skills building, training, and
employment programs for women as
well as men. Women should be
empowered through affirmative
action, which is equally provided for
in New Constitution of Kenya.

Funds for Reparations: There is
need for the Government to set aside
funds from the Treasury for payment
of reparations for victims of gender-
based violence in terms of urgent
medical needs, emotional comfort,
educational access and provision of
material needs. Apart from this,
there is also need to set aside funds
for the rehabilitation of the
perpetrators of the violence who are
in most instances men. The
perpetrators should be treated as sick
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people and accorded the necessary
psychological counseling and if
necessary, psychotherapy.

Gender Mainstreaming: In the
Gender mainstreaming policy
frameworks, there should be an
outline of activities, specifically
targeting the men. Each of the
Ministries should have as part of
their gender mainstreaming policy,
activities targeting both the men and
the women and not only the woman,
as gender is a generic term that is
nowadays used to refer to the two
sexes.

Ratification of International
Treaties: Kenya has ratified
Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Violence Against
Women (CEDAW), and the African
Charter on Human and Peoples
Rights, but has yet to ratify the
Protocol on the Rights of Women in
Africa (African Union 2007). In fact,
Kenya and Burundi are the only East
African countries that are yet to
ratify this Charter. There is need for
Kenya to ratify such regional
Charters and also to incorporate all
signed human rights instruments
relating to women into domestic
law. Kenya should enact and enforce
laws and regulations prohibiting
discrimination against women to
bring Kenyan practices into accord
with international human rights
standards and constitutional
provisions.

Domestication of International
Treaties: There is need for the
Government to institute effective
legislation that will go along the
lines of the Beijing Plan of Action,
and which will particularly ensure
that the human rights of women are
protected; that government
institutions pay adequate attention to
problems involving the violation of
human rights of women and that
urgent action is taken to combat and
eliminate violence against women,
resulting from harmful traditional or
customary practices, cultural
prejudices and extremism.

Community Integration and
National Healing: Men as the actual
perpetrators of GBV should be
involved in activities of community
integration and national healing.
With the National Cohesion and
Integration Commission (NCIC) and
the Truth Justice and Reconciliation
Commission (TJRC) already in
place, they should embark on
rigorous campaigns that involve men
in teaching fellow men on the
dangers of GBV. Since violence
against women is usually linked to
issues of power relations, especially
in production, labour and life
choices; it would be important to
give a historical interpretation of
how violence became
institutionalised and try to demystify
the myths.

Power Politics and Policy
Implementation: It is an established
fact that because of the power
relations, men are usually privileged
in influencing decisions. It would be
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difficult for women to influence
decisions in cases where they are the
victims. It would therefore be
appropriate to work with the men,
who can talk to other men about
gender-based violence in different
gatherings and help influence the
fellow men in combating violence.
Men should be reminded constantly
that violence in the family has
negative impacts on children as well
as on women and men, and has great
impacts on family investment in
health and education. If the men are
able to understand and appreciate
this reality, then they would be slow
to initiate violence.

Batterer Intervention Programs
(BIPs): This is one of the many
approaches that can be used to
address GBV where the emphasis is
not only on stopping violence but
also to influence behaviour change.
Through these programmes, men are
expected to tap on the skill-building
and attitude modification focus,
thereby acquiring skills to be able to
change their beliefs about women
and the acceptability of violence.
These programmes are usually
community based and are meant for
persons who abuse their intimate
partners. The effectiveness of
batterer intervention programs is
however, complicated by the
frequent co-occurrence of other
problems, most notably
unemployment, substance abuse, and
mental disorders. However, there
have also been controversies
surrounding BIPs in that they have
neither the mandate nor the
resources to hold men accountable
for their actions; there is no
guarantee that the victims are safe,
especially in cases where the
battering is an indication of
recidivism; and there are no
indications that the batterer changed
his attitudes and behaviour.

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