JOANNA KINUTHIA PUSHES FOR GOVERNMENT TO RECOGNISE FEMICIDE AS A DISTINCT CRIME IN KENYA

Kenyan content creator Joanna Kinuthia has called on the government to recognise femicide as a legally distinct crime. 

While femicide is currently prosecuted under general homicide laws, Kinuthia says that this approach fails to address the specific, gendered nature of these killings or to properly track their alarming frequency.

The Kenyan law already treats gender-based violence (GBV). Acts like domestic violence, sexual assault, and rape all fall under the broad category of violence, yet they are recognised legally as distinct crimes because of their unique motives power imbalances, misogyny, and systemic gender inequality. 

Joanna argues that recognition of femicide as a crime allows for specialised legal responses, data collection, and prevention. She explains that it is not just murder but the most extreme manifestation of GBV, rooted in the same toxic ideologies. Where women are killed by intimate partners and stalkers specifically because they are women, these crimes follow predictable patterns and motivations that general homicide laws often overlook. 

“There’s a clear motive behind femicide, and it’s known it’s the same motive as gender based violence. In fact, femicide is just gender based violence final boss. Gender based violence is just a stop on the road to femicide.”

She says by classifying femicide separately, the government would allow authorities to accurately document femicide rates, revealing the true scale of the crisis. “When we do this, femicide can start getting the unique attention and response that it deserves. We can start collecting data on it as a crime on its own, and when we see those statistics, we can be able to actually see it for the national crisis that it actually is.”