Putting Women’s Empowerment on the Truth and Justice Agenda

Recent media reports on the special sessions of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, dedicated to hearing the experiences women, have described how commissioners have been brought to tears hearing about the trauma inflicted on women during military and militia operations across the country, from Isiolo to Mount Elgon. According to the Standard, witnesses in Isiolo, who narrated stories of rape, indecent assault, genital mutilation and forced labour at the hands of security forces, welcomed the opportunity to share their experiences. “We feel somehow healed”, said one.

The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission deserves praise for bringing women’s experiences of conflict to the fore. Women experience destructive synergies of loss and suffering during periods of conflict: violence harms women; harms expose women to further violence; further violence leads to spiral effect of social exclusion and vulnerability. Yet such experiences are often considered ‘less serious’ than those that are direct results of fighting.

However, to truly heal the women of Kenya affected by conflict, it is important to understand the gendered nature of their experiences. During conflict, the oppression and violence that women experience in day-to-day life escalate beyond social bound. New experiences of violence and domination ‘normalize’ previously ‘unthinkable’ acts. This further entrenches gender inequalities, which can remain long after the fighting has stopped.

In its Concluding Observations on Kenya published in February 2011, for example, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women expressed its concern about “the persistence of adverse cultural norms, practices and traditions as well as patriarchal attitudes and deep-rooted stereotypes regarding the roles, responsibilities and identities of women and men”, as well as about the “high prevalence of violence against women and girls and widespread incidents of sexual violence, including rape, in both the private and public spheres” and about the fact that such violence “appears to be socially legitimized and accompanied by a culture of silence and impunity and that cases of violence are thus underreported”.

These gender inequalities disempower women, making it difficult to refuse unwanted or unprotected sex, negotiate condom use, or use contraception against a partner's wishes; increasing women’s vulnerability to sexual and reproductive health threats, such as sexual exploitation, unplanned pregnancy, unsafe abortion and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS.

It will be important for the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to translate the narratives it hears from women across the country into concrete recommendations to promote women’s empowerment and address these systemic gender inequalities. This would have a significant impact on the government’s ability to meet its reproductive health policy objectives and uphold the sexual and reproductive health rights of women across Kenya.