Thousands of women marched in major cities on Saturday carrying placards that called for an end to femicide, with messages reading #StopKillingUs #EndFemicideKe and #WeJustWantToLive. Other signage bore the names of women who have been killed in recent months, with the messages “Say Their Names” or “SheWasSomeone”. Tens of thousands of posts calling for an end to the violent killings trended online.
At least 500 cases of femicide have been recorded in Kenya since 2016. Organisations that document the deaths say the actual number may be higher due to unreported cases or incidents where details are omitted in police or media reports, leaving the deaths miscategorised.
A majority of the cases of femicide were perpetrated by men who knew the women and were in intimate relationships with them, according to the data organisation Africa Data Hub. It found that many of the killings were preceded by systematic domestic violence.