At least 220 women and girls were killed in Kenya in 2025, most by people they trusted, and often after seeking help. The Femicide Report 2025 shows that these deaths were not accidents but the result of ignored warning signs, social silence, and systemic failure. Ending femicide requires naming it, tracking it, and acting decisively to protect women before violence becomes fatal.
Femicide, the intentional killing of women and girls, has emerged as one of Kenya’s most urgent human rights crises. The Femicide Report 2025, She Did Not Die by Accident, documents a year marked by predictable, preventable, and deeply systemic violence against women. Far from isolated tragedies, the killings mapped in this report reveal a pattern of institutional failure, social silence, and missed opportunities for intervention.
Between January and December 2025, at least 220 femicide cases were documented across the country. Alarmingly, 129 cases occurred in just the first three months of the year, indicating an average of nearly one woman killed every day. After March 2025, the Government of Kenya stopped publicly releasing consolidated femicide data, creating a significant accountability and transparency gap. The figures presented in this report therefore represent only a minimum baseline, with widespread underreporting strongly suspected.
The report confirms that most perpetrators were known to the victims, often intimate partners or family members. Femicide was rarely a sudden act of violence. In many cases, it was preceded by warning signs such as emotional abuse, physical violence, threats, stalking, or economic control. Survivors frequently sought help, from family members, community leaders, police, or local organisations, and even religious leaders only to be dismissed, redirected to informal mediation, or left unprotected.
One of the report’s most sobering findings is that the home remains the most dangerous place for women. Over two-thirds of documented femicides occurred in private spaces such as homes or shared residences. These are spaces assumed to offer safety, yet they functioned as sites of control, surveillance, and escalating abuse. Attempts by women to leave relationships, assert independence, or make decisions about finances, pregnancy, or mobility often triggered lethal violence.
Through the MASKAN multisensory installation and national city tour, communities in Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru, and Mombasa engaged directly with the realities of femicide. Across counties, consistent themes emerged: fear of reporting, reliance on informal justice mechanisms, prolonged court delays, and deep mistrust of the justice system. Out-of-court settlements and family negotiations repeatedly undermined accountability, allowing perpetrators to evade consequences and reinforcing cycles of impunity.
The social impact of femicide extends far beyond the loss of life. Families endure prolonged trauma, financial strain, and retraumatisation through stalled justice processes. Children are left without caregivers, often exposed to violence and displacement, with little psychosocial or institutional support. Survivors and families become secondary victims of both violence and systemic failure.
Crucially, the report makes clear that femicide is not inevitable. It is the result of choices, by individuals, communities, and institutions, that can be changed. The report calls for urgent action, including legal recognition of femicide as a distinct crime, transparent and centralised data systems, survivor-centred protection frameworks, faster justice pathways, and sustained prevention efforts addressing cultural norms, economic inequality, and youth vulnerability.
Every woman named in this report represents not only a life lost, but a moment where intervention was possible. Ending femicide requires naming it, tracking it, and acting decisively to prevent it. Silence and delay continue to cost lives.
Report at a glance
- At least 220 femicide cases were documented in Kenya in 2025, with 129 killings recorded in just the first three months, an alarming indication of the scale and urgency of the crisis.
- Most women were killed by someone they knew, often a current or former intimate partner or family member, confirming that femicide is rooted in power, control, and unequal gender relations.
- The home is the most dangerous place for women: over two-thirds of femicides occurred in private spaces, exposing the failure of protection mechanisms within intimate and domestic settings.
- Warning signs were present and ignored. In many cases, survivors had previously reported abuse, expressed fear, or sought help—yet institutions and communities failed to intervene before violence escalated.
- Government data on femicide stopped being publicly released after March 2025, creating a major transparency and accountability gap and masking the true scale of the crisis.
- Informal justice mechanisms continue to enable impunity, with out-of-court settlements and family negotiations undermining prosecutions and allowing perpetrators to evade accountability.
- Femicide is preventable. The report calls for legal recognition of femicide, survivor-centred protection systems, faster justice pathways, and coordinated prevention strategies to stop further loss of life.