Stop Violence Against Women

I’ve been offline these past couple of months as we completed the ActionAid Australia Strategy for 2012-2017 “Changing The Rules” and completed our preparation for the review of our accreditation with the Australian Government. It seemed right to get back on here to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women as eliminating violence against women is one of our big priorities.

Recently one of my colleagues alerted me to the extreme cultural practice of ‘Beading’ in northern Kenya which is an appalling violation of rights for many young girls aged as young as 6 years old and I felt compelled to post her story here.

It’s been reported that the practice involves a young man from the community, and often a relative, who approaches a male member of a family, often a younger brother, who agrees to provide his young sister for courtship or as an early marriage promise, often for a kilo of sugar and a red beaded necklace.

In some instances the girl’s mother, then builds a makeshift shelter next to the family compound where the young man unofficially ‘courts’ her in what is called a ‘small marriage’, but effectively violates her sexually on a daily basis until she is pregnant.  The marriage is not recognized by the community.

The young man continually brings more and more beaded necklaces which the young girl wears around her neck as the necklaces reflect  some value within the community. The young girl has no choice and no voice, and as a result of a pregnancy, she is either taken to the nearby bushes by a group of local women, often with her own mother, and they attempt to force a miscarriage by stamping on her stomach.

If this is successful, the young girl then returns to the same situation and the scenario is repeated if she becomes pregnant again. In many instances the young girl must ‘kill’ her own baby if the forced miscarriage is unsuccessful or if she is able to hide the pregnancy and then delivers the baby. The illegitimate baby is either left to the wild animals or given a concoction of tobacco that is forced into the baby’s mouth, where it subsequently dies. Alternatively, other local tribes have been known to take the baby and adopt it as their own.

At the same time that this practice takes place, the young girl is supposed to attract an official suitor who will marry her and produce a dowry. Often the only option is for her to be married off to a much older man, and she can often become a domestic and sexual ‘slave’ to him. Many girls are completely traumatised by the situation and many have been reported to commit suicide.  

This practice does not appear to be widely known outside of the community.  There is much to be done in response to this massive rights violation and work is ongoing to see if a Rescue Centre  that could provide birthing facilities, trauma counselling, and life skills and small business training to enable the young women to be self sufficient and support their child can be established .

At the same time its essential that the community is sensitised to the violation of rights and consequences for the young girls.  At a broader scale the young girls need to have their voice heard and be protected from these barbaric daily human rights violations.  There is a long way to go with this struggle………………