By Sharon Namarome
On every 11th October, Kenya joins the global community to mark the International Day of the Girl Child. This day was declared a public holiday by the United Nation General Assembly in order to recognize the girls rights and the unique challenges girls face around, with an aim of promoting girls empowerment and fulfilment of their human rights.
Early mariages, female genital multilation (FGM) and sexual violence are among the various challenges that girl child has been facing for decades now. This has always hindered them from from accessing education in order to empower themselves. On the other hand, cultural practices and poverty has been identified as the major issues derailing the development of girl child.
Despite of the challenges we are still facing, there is still more to boast off, as the country’s effort in empowering girl child is slowly boring fruits. It is encouraging of how the society is slowly embracing the girl child and giving them opportunities to exploit their potentials through education. The recent marking of the International Day of the Girl Child in Kenya was commendable.
All over the country were celebrations that highlighted the importance of educating the girl child and giving them equal opportunities as boys. This is among the major steps that we need to take in order to make our fight effective. However, as we focus on girl child, we are leaving behind the male gender, especially on the issues of sexual violence because we tend to view men as perpetrators, yet they too are at risk of being the victims. It is true that women and girls are disproportionately affected with gender based violence, however this does not exclude men and boys from violence perpetrated against them by both male and female offenders.
According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2022 report, men in their 20s and 30s suffer sexual violence most, with those aged 20 to 24 being the most affected victims. The report further noted that 6.9 percent of men between 15 and 54 years have suffered sexual violence at some point in their life. This grim statistics paints a clear picture on the reality of the sexual assaults men encounter with less put in place to end the menace.
As a result, a good number of boys and men have been left grappling myriad of mental challenges. Men who have been sexually assaulted or abused have many of the same feelings, reactions and consequences as female victims, but they tend to suffer more due to social attitudes, stigma and stereotypes about men masculinity. This has resulted into vicious cycle where young boys who had experienced sexual assaults end up becoming perpetrators if not helped.
Furthermore, some men will end up demoralized in social issues like marriages and feel like their manhood was totally destroyed especially in cases of rape assaults. Others tend turn out to be offenders out of unwillingness, or some will do so in order to revenge what happened to them.
It’s therefore high time to include all gender as we strive to archive girls empowerment. The society should get rid of minding on masculinity and understand that men too can be victims of sexual assaults and stop exalting masculinity above vulnerability when it comes to men.
Again, stigma surrounding sexual assaults on men should be discouraged in order to help victims feel embraced and seek help. This should incorporate frequent talk up culture in the society to help men open up in order to be helped.
It’s also time we focus on amplification of male survivor stories and help them access justice without stigma. Organizations too should not focus on female employees alone when it comes to sexual abuse. There is need to deliberate about protection and care of boys to avoid what is likely to become an explosion of more abuse cases by fighting back against the normalization of this menace. Otherwise, we will be helping girls but male perpetrators will still draw us back if we don’t consider them.
Sharon Namarome (sharonnenams18@gmail.com) NAYA Youth Advocate
