In May 2024, Rebecca Cheptegi, a Ugandan marathon runner, was burned to death by her boyfriend. Cheptegi’s murder is one of the several cases of femicide in African countries. Femicide is the targeted killing of women and girls. The alarming rise in femicides across Africa demands a collective responsibility from the family, society, and government through reformative parenting, women empowerment, and effective lawmaking, respectively.
Femicide is a gender-based violence, and it reflects misogyny rooted in a society where women are seen as lesser humans. There is also a lack of support systems that prevent violence or hold perpetrators of women’s violence accountable.
To eradicate femicide, there is a need to eliminate double standards in parenting. Research has shown that parenting styles play a significant role in perpetuating gender stereotypes, such as encouraging boys to be defiant and girls to be docile.
Also, parents can influence children’s behaviors and values by passing on their sexist attitudes, benevolent or hostile. To break this cycle, Parents should raise both boy and girl children to be responsible, self-sufficient, respect others, be empathetic, and avoid a sense of entitlement. This shift in parenting is key to ending the violence that often leads to femicide and laying the foundation for a safer society.
Over the years, the percentage of Africans who believe that women are treated with respect and dignity has declined. This perception has trapped many women in abusive relationships as they depend on men for validation.
About one-third of African women have reported physical or sexual domestic violence, yet domestic violence in sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to triple by 2060. Families and society must empower women to find strength within themselves and reject abusive environments.
This empowerment should include reorientating both men and women through advocacy campaigns, community workshops, vocational training, and education initiatives that promote gender equity, challenge patriarchal norms, and foster a culture of mutual respect. These reorientations would reiterate the notion that women are valuable not because of their relationship with men but because they are human beings deserving of respect, safety, and dignity. This reorientation would also help women reject relationships threatening their peace and life and help men treat women better.
The analysis of twenty African countries revealed that gender inequality is institutionalized within legal systems and customary laws. This analysis suggests that to effectively protect African women, the law must first address and reform harmful family and customary laws. These laws include those that require women to obtain spousal consent for personal decisions, restrict access to reproductive health services, exempt marital rape from prosecution, and perpetuate violations of equal rights to divorce settlements. Reviewing these laws is necessary because they deny women their basic rights and dignity and perpetuate violence and inequality.
The judiciary must ensure swift and uncompromising penalties for perpetrators of femicide and attempted femicide. The judiciary must establish clear guidelines and protocols for handling cases of femicide and attempted femicide.
These protocols should include mandatory training for officials, standardized evidence collection, risk assessment tools, victim support protocols, emergency response procedures, no-drop policies, sentencing guidelines, and data collection and analysis systems. By doing so, the judiciary can send a strong message that violence against women will not be tolerated, thereby contributing to a culture of zero tolerance and promoting a society where women’s worth is recognized and respected.
Reviewing extant laws and ensuring adequate punishment for offenders will deter intending perpetrators and encourage women to report abuse. Femicide is not just a women’s issue; it is a collective fault that requires collective responsibility. It is time to put an end to raising entitled boy children, aiding abusive men, and abetting societal norms that undervalue women.
Sakeenah Kareem is a writing fellow at African Liberty.
Photo by AMISOM via Iwaria.
Article was first published in Sahara Reporters.
