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.
Kabarak University and Heinrich Boell Foundation published a book dubbed “Decentralisation and inclusion in Kenya: From pre-colonial times to the first decade of devolution”. The publication is a result of a research that evaluated the first era of devolution (2012 – 2022). The critical focus on devolution and its impact on minority groups.
This special edition of Perspectives reflects on, analyzes and documents the evolution of African feminisms and feminist action that African activists have taken up to address both old as well as persistent and new threats to women’s rights and gender justice. It also reflects on lessons learned from African feminist practices for current and future generations across the region.
Stella Nyanzi’s No Roses From My Mouth includes 159 poems written in 2019 and 2020 from Luzira Women’s Prison in Kampala, Uganda during a trial and serving time for cyber-harassing and offending the President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in a poem where she uses his dead mother’s vagina as an image to comment on her son’s "oppression, suppression and repression" of Ugandans. This poetry collection includes poems "written by an activist who uses the space of incarceration and the time of detention to reflect on the conditions of being incarcerated itself", the position of the woman in society, and the political conditions of the Ugandan state.
Edited by Nanjala Nyabola and Marie- Emmanuelle Pommerolle, this collection captures some of the stories and experiences of women who particiapetd in the heated 2017 general election in Kenya. The stories shed light on the nuances and complexities facing women who choose to enter electoral politics in Kenya.
Out of the eleven elections that have been held in Kenya since independence, the 2013 election will remain significant in Kenya’s electoral history. The Constitution of Kenya 2010 set the legal framework for promoting gender equality, which has seen a record eighty six woman elected and nominated to the eleventh Parliament. This number surpasses the total number of women representatives in the fifty years of independence combined. In the last ten parliaments, Kenya has had a total of eventy five women, fifty of them elected while the other 25 were nominated. With an increase from 9.8% to 19% representation, Kenya is now ranked 76th of the top 100 countries in the World Classification of Women in National Parliaments. The marked
Progress, a result of years of hard work by different stakeholders in the women’s movement, deserves celebration.
In post-war periods and in the aftermath of serious, systematic human rights violations, gender-based forms of violence are usually forgotten during the processing of the past and reconciliation phase. Yet, only when they are paid due regard can lasting peace processes be established. Given this, it is important to subject transitional justice institutions and approaches to a detailed review. The results: until now, transitional justice has, in many places, failed to address the gender dimensions but increasingly so the issues of inequality, hierarchies and violence patterns.
This study details these problems and presents the resulting challenges facing politicians and society.
Invisible is a Kenyan story made up of many tales. Although the issue of sexual orientation and gender identity is a very controversial topic in Kenya, the queer community has recently struggled to make itself more visible.
This issue of Perspectives provides insight into country-specific challenges and controversies with regards to women’s access to justice in selected sub-Saharan African states.
The manual enhances men’s knowledge on the link between masculinities, GBV and the spread of HIV/AIDS, as well as equips them with practical skills for training other men on combating GBV and the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Despite global advances recognizing the principle of women’s political, economic and social equality, Kenyan women continue to be marginalized in many areas of society, especially in the sphere of leadership and decision making.
The book offers a simplified but comprehensive profile of all the elective, nominative and appointive positions in Kenya's Constitution, for women and men to make informed decisions about which offices to go for.
The toolkit provides men with easy practical guidelines on how to work with fellow men to combat gender based violence - GBV as part of their contribution to enhancing gender equality.
Over the last five decades, successive African governments have promised their citizens dignity, equality, human rights and a better life. However, progress to achieve these ideals remains hampered in various respects, of which gender inequality is undoubtedly one of the most severe.
Despite much rhetoric about gender equity, the role of women in Kenyan electoral politics remains dismally low – even by standards of the East African region. The sixth edition of "Perspectives on Gender Discourse", emerging from discussions held at HBS Nairobi's "Gender Forum" in the run-up to the last general elections, takes a closer look at women’s political practice in Kenya from diverse perspectives.
In the Shadow of Death: My Trauma, My Experience is a public testimony of what numerous women went through during the post-election violence that engulfed Kenya immediately after the Electoral Commission of Kenya announced the results of the hotly-contested presidential polls of the December 2007 General Election.
Despite a multitude of policy interventions by government and non-state actors in Kenya, female representation remains low in post-primary education, formal employment, enterprise ownership outside wholesale and retail trade, and political decision making processes.
In an attempt to influence change in the leadership through equal participation and representation, this booklet proves an invaluable tool for any woman candidate seeking political office in Kenya. It provides a political scan of the Kenyan electorate and provides political insights geared towards helping women candidates gather the votes.
