Combating Gender-Based Violence in Kenya: Laws, Institutions, and the Fight Against Femicide

Gender-based violence (GBV) remains one of the most persistent and devastating human rights challenges in Kenya. According to the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS), four in ten women — 43% of women and girls aged 15 to 49 — have experienced intimate partner violence from a spouse, ex-spouse, or boyfriend during their lifetime. The crisis reached a horrifying peak in 2024, when 579 femicide cases were reported, with 129 more in the first quarter of 2025 alone. Despite a comprehensive legal framework, dedicated institutions, and growing civil society advocacy, Kenya's protection systems are failing the very people they were designed to serve, raising urgent questions about implementation, funding, and the deeply entrenched social norms that enable violence.

The Scale of the Crisis

The statistics paint a stark picture. The 2022 KDHS found that 34% of women and girls aged 15 to 49 have experienced physical violence since the age of 15, while intimate partner sexual violence affects a significant proportion of married and partnered women. The Gender Violence Recovery Centre (GVRC) and other frontline organizations document thousands of cases annually — though widespread underreporting means that official figures represent only a fraction of actual incidents. In 2022, the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW-Kenya) recorded over 3,762 reported GBV cases, with 2,985 involving women and 777 involving men.

The perpetrators are overwhelmingly known to the victims: KDHS data shows that among ever-married women who experienced physical violence, the perpetrator was most often the current husband or intimate partner (53.9%) followed by a former partner (34%). This pattern of intimate partner violence reflects both the normalization of violence within relationships and the economic dependence that traps many women in abusive situations. Domestic violence cuts across socioeconomic lines, geographic regions, and ethnic communities, though risk factors including poverty, alcohol abuse, low education levels, and exposure to violence in childhood significantly increase vulnerability.

The Femicide Emergency

Kenya's femicide crisis has galvanized national and international attention. At least 678 women and girls were murdered by intimate partners between 2016 and 2024, with Kenya National Police data indicating that approximately one woman is killed every day due to gender-based violence. The National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC) issued nine public statements on femicide in 2024 alone, calling for an immediate stop to the increasing incidences of GBV and femicide.

High-profile cases, amplified by social media under hashtags like #StopKillingWomen and #FemicideInKenya, have brought unprecedented public attention to the issue. UNESCO issued a call to action confronting the alarming rise of GBV and femicide in Kenya, while civil society organizations staged protests demanding government accountability. A Technical Working Group on GBV including femicide was established to develop comprehensive recommendations for legislative reform and institutional strengthening.

The Legal Framework

Kenya possesses one of the most comprehensive legal frameworks for addressing GBV in East Africa, though implementation remains the critical weakness. Key legislation includes the Sexual Offences Act of 2006, which criminalized a broad range of sexual offences and established minimum sentences; the Protection Against Domestic Violence Act of 2015, which provides Kenya's most comprehensive definition of domestic violence modelled on the WHO definition; the Children Act of 2022, which strengthens protections for minors; and the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2011.

The 2010 Constitution provides foundational protections through its Bill of Rights, guaranteeing equality and non-discrimination, the right to dignity, freedom from violence, and access to justice. Constitutional provisions for gender representation — the two-thirds gender rule — aim to ensure women's participation in governance and policy-making, though full implementation of this rule has been repeatedly delayed. Parliament is currently reviewing the 2006 Sexual Offences Act with consideration of technology-facilitated violence including revenge pornography, cyber-stalking, and online harassment.

Institutional Response and Service Delivery

Kenya's institutional architecture for GBV response includes the NGEC as the constitutional oversight body, the State Department of Gender Affairs within the Ministry of Public Service and Gender, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations' GBV desks, and county-level gender offices established under devolution. The Gender Violence Recovery Centre at Kenyatta National Hospital provides comprehensive medical, psychosocial, and legal support to survivors and serves as a model for similar centres across the country.

However, Kenya's GBV protection is failing despite a 2026 deadline for key targets. Critical gaps include the severe shortage of safe houses and recovery centres — the State Department of Gender and county governments were urged to establish facilities across the country, but most counties lack any dedicated shelters. Police GBV desks, while present in many stations, are frequently understaffed, lack trained officers, and sometimes re-traumatize survivors through insensitive handling of cases. The judicial system faces massive backlogs, with sexual offence cases taking years to reach trial, discouraging survivors from pursuing legal remedies.

The Funding Crisis

Adequate funding for GBV prevention and response remains critically insufficient. The 2025–26 national budget allocated only KSh 254 million for strengthening GBV prevention and response — a sum that is vastly inadequate given the scale of the crisis. The situation was further exacerbated when USAID decisions to freeze or scale back foreign aid left shelter providers, counselling services, and community-based prevention programmes in crisis. Many organizations that provide frontline GBV services depend heavily on international donor funding, making them vulnerable to shifts in foreign aid priorities.

Prevention: Addressing Root Causes

Effective GBV prevention requires addressing the deeply rooted social norms, economic inequalities, and cultural practices that enable violence. Kenya's prevention strategies increasingly focus on engaging men and boys as allies against violence, challenging toxic masculinity norms through community dialogues and school-based programmes. Economic empowerment of women — through access to education, employment, land ownership, and financial services — reduces the economic dependence that traps many in abusive relationships.

Community-based approaches have shown promise in areas where traditional practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and early child marriage persist. Alternative rites of passage programmes, community champion networks, and engagement with traditional and religious leaders have contributed to declining FGM rates in some communities, though the practice remains prevalent in Somali, Maasai, Kisii, and other communities. World Vision and other organizations emphasize that ending violence requires long-term investment in changing attitudes and behaviours across generations.

The Road Ahead

Combating GBV in Kenya demands a multi-faceted approach: strengthening law enforcement and judicial responses to ensure accountability for perpetrators, scaling up survivor services including shelters and psychosocial support, investing in prevention programmes that address root causes, securing sustainable domestic funding that reduces dependence on volatile foreign aid, and amplifying the voices of survivors and advocates in policy-making. The femicide crisis of 2024 has created a moment of national reckoning — whether Kenya translates outrage into sustained institutional change will determine whether the next generation of Kenyan women and girls can live free from the threat of violence.