The loud silence: A Crisis Ignored
The year 2024 recorded the highest number of femicide cases in Kenya’s history, with at least 160 women reported murdered across the country. This is according to Femicide Count Kenya. Despite hundreds of Kenyans taking to the streets and social media to protest, the killings continue. In just the first three months alone of 2025, according to Citizen TV, 129 more lives were lost, each death more brutal than the last. These are not isolated tragedies—they are symptoms of a society rotting from within.
Victim-Blaming in the Spotlight
On 15th April 2025, Kenya witnessed a very shocking display of institutional indifference. During her vetting for Gender Cabinet Secretary, nominee Hanna Cheptumo claimed some femicide victims were killed because they were “chasing after money” and lacked education.
The truth is? Femicide does not discriminate by class or education.
Sylvia Kemunto, a mass communication and computer science student at Multimedia University, was murdered after allegedly rejecting her killer’s romantic advances; Bonita Ngatha Karuki, a bachelor’s in education student at Karatina University, was stabbed to death by her boyfriend on Valentine’s Day; Lucy Wamaitha, an NGO social worker, was murdered, stuffed in a gunny bag, and dumped in a river.
Cheptumo’s remarks shift blame from perpetrators to victims, reinforcing the same toxic mindset that enables femicide. Femicide is not just an isolated incident of ‘wrong place at the wrong time’- is about a system that treats women as disposable.
In a report released in March 2024 addressing the surge in femicide cases across the country, the Media Council of Kenya observed that “Femicide ought not to happen in any democratic and progressive society. However, in a highly patriarchal society that discriminates against women and girls in stereotypes, gender roles, unequal power relations between men and women, and harmful social norms, it was only a matter of time before gender-related killings manifest.”
What MUST change
The fact is, a lot remains to be done to address femicide in Kenya. We must take urgent, multi-layered action. We need rigorous documentation of every femicide case—no more invisibility, no more forgotten victims. Additionally, policy reform is non-negotiable, stricter laws must be enforced, and perpetrators must face the consequences of their actions. But laws alone are not enough. We must overhaul our culture—stop blaming victims, start teaching boys accountability. Only by attacking femicide from all angles—systems, laws, and mindsets—can we break this cycle of violence. This means listening to survivors and rejecting narratives that shift responsibility away from perpetrators.
Ending femicide is not just about systemic changes — it is about changing cultures, and that starts with each of us choosing to speak up, stay informed, and demand better.
Silence is complicity. Speak up—before another woman becomes another statistic.
