TRUTH IN THE NUMBERS: STATS ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS (VAWG)

Home should be the one place you feel safest. It is where you retreat to recharge after facing a tough scary world. Wrapped in the love and warmth of people we can count on.

But for thousands upon thousands of women and girls globally, that is just not their reality. Their norm is, unfortunately, violence. Violence from the very people who are supposed to love and protect them.

Any person regardless of gender can be a victim of violence and none of it is okay. But in light of the recent back-to-back headlines of women and girls in Kenya being killed, this article will focus on violence against women (not to discount that this also happens to many men).

Let this round-up of statistics, paint a picture of the depth of this issue.

On the Global Level

Globally, 1 in 3 women will face some form of GBV within her lifetime. (Source) ?

In 2012, 48,000 women (47% of all female homicides) were killed by intimate partners or family member (s). (Source)

According to WHO, 30% of women and girls (1 in 3) globally have experienced either physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4)

?According to WHO, 38% of murders of women and girls were perpetrated by intimate partners. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4)

In 2017, 87,000 women were killed intentionally, and among the 50, 000 women (58%) were killed by an intimate partner or a family member. That translates to 137 women killed every day by an intimate partner or family member. (Source 1, Source 2)

?82% of victims of intimate partner killings are women and 90% of the perpetrators are men. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)

In 2017, 30,000 women killed intentionally were killed by their current or former intimate. (Source)

In 2020, 47,000 women and girls were killed by an intimate partner or other family member. That translates to 1 woman or girl being killed every 11 minutes. (Source)

In 2021, 45000 out of 81,100 total murders globally (51%) were women. (Source) ?

In absolute terms, in 2017, 2020, and 2021 Asia had the highest number of victims at 20,000 victims, 18600 victims, and 17800 victims respectively. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)

Africa however topped globally with a rate of 2.5 per 100000 individuals of the female population in 2021, a rate of 2.7 per 100000 individuals of the female population in 2020, and a rate of 3.1 per 100,000 female population in 2017. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)

In 2021, 56% of murder cases worldwide were as a result of femicide. That translates to 4 femicides in every 10 deaths. ?(Source 1, Source 2)

In 2021, 5 women or girls were killed every hour by a family member. (Source 1, Source 2)

1 in every 5 homicides worldwide are perpetrated by an intimate partner or family member(s) but out of those 64% of the victims are women. (Source)

Compared to women who haven’t had an experience of intimate partner violence, women who have experienced it report higher rates of various health problems: (Source)

·?????? 16% are more likely to have a low birth-weight baby

·?????? 32% are likely to have an abortion

·?????? 32% are likely to experience depression

·?????? 24% are likely to acquire HIV.

In Africa

In 2017, 69% of all women and girls killed intentionally were killed by their intimate partners or family member(s) in Africa. That translates to 2 in every 3 women and girls. (Source 1, Source 2)

In Kenya

<2014

A 2003 report showed that 49% of Kenyan women have experienced some form of violence in their lifetime. With 83% reporting at least one episode of physical abuse and 46% reporting at least one episode of sexual abuse in their childhood. 60% of women first experienced abuse between 6-12 years and 24% between 13 and 19 years.? (Source 1, Source 2)

More than 60% of women who have experienced abuse did not report their experiences to anyone and only 12% reported to the authorities. (Source)

25% of girls age 12-24 report losing their virginity by force. (Source)

Between 2003 and 2004, 3097 cases of child defilement were reported. (Source)

In 2013, girls under 11 years made up 24% of GBV survivors. (Source)

2014

A 2014 study shows 38% of 15-49 year old women and girls reported having experienced physical violence and 14% reported having experienced sexual violence. (Source 1, Source 2)

A 2014 study shows 45% of 15-49 year old women and girls have experienced both physical and sexual violence and 41% experienced active violence from their intimate partner that year. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)

24% of GBV survivors in 2014 were below 11 years old. (Source 1, Source 2)

As of 2014, at least 4 in every 10 women and girls (41%) had experienced some form of violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime from an intimate partner. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3, Source 4, Source 5)

1 in 3 women or girls have experienced sexual violence before 18 years. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)

In a 2014 report, 4 in every 10 women and girls aged 15-49 were victims of violence before their 18th?birthday. (Source)

39%-47% of Kenyan women will experience gender based violence in their lifetime. (Source)

In 2014, 2 in every 5 women who experience violence reported physical injuries as a result. (Source 1, Source 2)

In more than 80% of the cases of VAWG in 2014 men were the main perpetrators. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)

The number of women experiencing violence increases with age with 35% for those aged 15-19 and 54% for those aged 40-49. (Source)

Between 2013 and 2014, among 5143 cases of GBV reported to Liverpool Voluntary Counseling and Testing (LVCT), girls between 12 and 17 were mostly affected making up 41% of the survivors and women between 18 to 49 years made up 32% of the survivors. Women with disability accounted for 1% and those over 50 years made up 3%. (Source)

Western and Nyanza counties has most cases of physical violence at 51.6% and 49.5% respectively, Nairobi followed at 461.% and eastern at 40.6%. North Eastern was the lowest at 12.1%. The same ranking goes for cases of sexual violence. (Source)

73% of GBV survivors in 2014 were unwilling to seek justice and only 5% of those who sought medical help were willing to take the matter to court. (Source)

42% of women and men in Kenya as of 2014 believed that wife beating was an acceptable practice. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)

KNBS, in 2014 reported that 21% of all women in Kenya had experienced sexual violence but one in every e women are not able to access justice. (Source)

Most victims of sexual violence in Kenya seek help informally, with 76% turning to their family members, 10% disclosed the occurrence of sexual violence but did not seek help, while 53% neither sought help nor told anyone about it. (Source)

2019

In the first 6 months of 2019, 60 cases at least were reported of women killed by their current spouse of former partner. ?(Source)

In 2019, 108 women were victims of femicide. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)

For women who have ever been married, 57% reported that the perpetrator of physical violence was the current partner and 24% reported the perpetrator to be a former partner. (Source 1, Source 2)

706 cases of femicide, or 2.64?cases per 100,000 women happened in Kenya in 2021. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3) ?

The first 4 months of 2019 (1st January – 2nd May 2019) recorded 46 femicide victims. (Source 1, Source 2)

2020

GBV cases between January and June 2020 had increased by 92% compared to a similar period in 2019. (Source)

Out of 2416 cases of Gender Based Violence reported between January and June 2020, 71% of the victims were women and girls. This translates to 10 females daily (State Department for Gender, 2020). (Source)

Through the 1195 hotline, 5009 cases of GBV were reported in year 2020, and this indicates a 36% increase from cases reported in 2019. (Source)

Data from the 1195 hotline between June 2020 and September 2020 showed psychological abuse to be the most prevalent form of abuse with 1360 cases reported, followed by child neglect at 715 cases and physical assaults at 601 cases. (Source)

Compared to 2019, cases of the different types of abuse either doubled or tripled in 2020.? (Source)

2022

2022 data shows that 34% of women between 15 and 49 years have experienced physical abuse since age 15 (more than 1 in 3 women). And 17% have experienced sexual abuse. (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)

Within the last 12 months of the KDHS 2022 survey, 16% had experienced physical abuse and 7% of women and girls had experienced sexual abuse. (Source)

37% of currently-married women reported having ever experienced physical abuse, compared to 12% of women who are never married and never had an intimate partner, and 25% of never married women who have had an intimate partner. For those widowed, divorced or separated, 58% have ever experienced physical violence. (Source)

41% of women who have ever been married or had an intimate partner (4 in every 10 women) have experienced economic, psychological/emotional, physical, or sexual violence and the perpetrator was either their current husband or former partner. (Source)

In the 2022 report, among women who have experienced physical or sexual violence, 42% sought help to stop it, 17% did not seek help but they told someone and the reminder about 41% never sought help of told anyone. (Source)

For women and girls aged 15-49 who have ever had a spouse or intimate partner, 30% have experienced psychological/emotional abuse, 28% physical abuse, 10% sexual abuse and 11% economic abuse. (Source)

Bungoma, Homabay, Murang’a, and Migori topped in levels of physical violence, with more than 50% of women reporting having experienced it. The Northeastern and Northern regions of the country registered the lowest rates. (Source 1, Source 2)

2023

In 2023, Femicide Count Kenya recorded 152 killings of women and girls and it was the highest number they have seen in the past 5 years (“2019- 111 killings, 2020-80 killings, 2021- 64 killings, 2022-92 killings, 2023-152 cases, January 2024-5 cases”). (Source 1, Source 2)

More

On social media platforms key forms of violence experienced by women are violent video sharing 63%, unsolicited pornographic content 63% and disclosure of personal information or images at 40%. (Source)

5 in every 10 women aged 15-24 believe and accept that men have a right to beat up a woman. (Source)

48% of women earning more than their partner report accepting spousal violence, 41% report having experienced physical partner violence, while 76% report having experienced at least one form of partner violence in their lifetime. (Source)

Between 2003 and 2014, 64% of women in Kenya had experienced some form of violence in their lifetime. Control? behaviors was more commonly experienced accounting for 61% of the cases, followed by physical violence at 36%, then emotional violence at 27% and sexual violence at 13%. (Source)

40.7% of ever-partnered women in Kenya have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime. 15.6% of women surveyed who experienced childhood sexual violence, nearly two-thirds experienced multiple incidents before age 18. (Source)

One in every 2 women in Kenya between 15 and 49 years had experienced physical or sexual violence between 2003 and 2014. (Source)

The female population is more affected by Gender based violence accounting for 56% of reported cases for women and 36% for girls. (Source)

Roughly 3000 survivors of GBV report at GVRC-NWH?every year. (Source)

GBV against pregnant women is estimated at 13.5%-17%. (Source)

Between 39%-47% of the female population in Kenya will experience GBV in their lifetime, which is one of the highest rates worldwide. (Source 1, Source 2)

Child marriages and FGM are estimated to be 23% and 21% respectively in Kenya. (Source)

Sadly, that is just what is reported.

The scope of the problem is further deepened by the ripple effects of these numerous acts of violence. Think about the trauma this causes the survivors, children who witness it, children robbed of their mothers, families, communities, and the society at large. Trauma that often outlives the perpetrators and the direct victims, for generations.

Numbers do not lie!!! And these are not just numbers they are actual people. ?

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1195 is a toll-free hotline for any Gender Based Violence (GBV) victim of any form of abuse. Reach out for help! Break the silence!