Report Reveals Most Dangerous County In Kenya For Women

The survey directly linked marital status to violence among women with those who have ever been married (41 per cent) much more likely to have experienced violence since age 15 compared to those who have never been married (20 per cent).

Another differentiating factor was literacy, as data showed that women with no education were most likely to experience violence (36 per cent) compared to those with more than secondary education (23 per cent).

Teachers (33 per cent) were also found to be the most common perpetrators of physical violence against women who have never been married or never had an intimate partner followed by mothers/stepmothers (25 per cent).

They were also found to be the most common perpetrators of physical violence against men who have never been married or had an intimate partner (46 per cent) followed by schoolmates/classmates (22 per cent).

Thirteen per cent of women reported that they had experienced sexual violence at some point in their lives, and seven per cent reported that they had experienced sexual violence in the last 12 months. A slightly lower proportion of men reported experiencing sexual violence; 7 per cent have ever experienced sexual violence, and 4 per cent experienced sexual violence in the 12 months preceding the survey.

"The percentage of women who have experienced sexual violence increases with age, from 7 per cent among those aged 15–19 to 18 per cent among those aged 40–49. Three per cent of women who have never been married and never had an intimate partner report sexual violence, as compared with 12 per cent of never-married women who ever had an intimate partner, 13 per cent of currently married women, and 27 per cent of formerly married women," added the report.

The most commonly reported perpetrators of sexual violence among women who have ever been married or ever had an intimate partner were current husbands or intimate partners (71 per cent) and former husbands or intimate partners (19 per cent).

Similarly, the most commonly reported perpetrators of sexual violence among men who have ever been married or had an intimate partner were current wives or intimate partners (63 per cent) and former wives or intimate partners (32 per cent).

KNBS defined physical violence as follows: push you, shake you, or throw something at you; slap you; twist your arm or pull your hair; punch you with his/her fist or with something that could hurt you; kick you, drag you, or beat you up; try to choke you or burn you on purpose; or attack you with a knife, gun, or other weapons.

As for sexual violence: physically force you to have sexual intercourse with him/her when you did not want to, physically force you to perform any other sexual acts you did not want to, or force you with threats or in any other way to perform sexual acts you did not want to.