Men Battery: No Longer a Myth But A Reality

There has been news circulating all over the country that men in Central Kenya specifically in Nyeri are getting twangwad (beaten) by their spouses. At first, it seemed like a unique case when it was reported on our local TV stations that some man had been badly wounded by his wife and was still nursing some nasty wounds. People really sympathized with the situation and wondered how beastly a woman can get. Before the dust could even settle regarding the revelation, other men started confessing publicly that they too had been getting the beatings and even had wounds to show.


This is now where I beg to ask. Why are these men being battered by their wives? For one, I do not believe a woman would wake up one day, pick a panga and start slashing the husband for no apparent reason. According to Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Charlady Rukia Subow men will continue being twangwad if they do not put their act together. Women from Nyeri complain that their men no longer support them as a husband should. They leave their wives to take care everything only for them to go and get drunk on some cheap brew most of the day. For this reason, the men are not able to do any manual jobs around the house, they sell household items to get money to buy more booze, in their drunken state they hurl insults at the wives demanding for food which they haven't even bought and cant even "get it up" when required to. The low cost and availability of the booze have made it easier for the men access. It is also believed that the empowering of women on gender issues and equality and the Women Enterprise Fund by the government have also contributed to the violent and domineering behaviour in these women.  They view men as liabilities especially if a man is not performing his husband duties.

Men are therefore complaining that the government have neglected them and concentrated more on empowering the women. Most of these victims are not properly educated or lack proper skills to survive in this modern and changing community. I also noted that most of these men are from a rural set-up.

Traditionally it is believed that woman should never be caught in arguments with men leave alone battering them. This tradition apparently seems to have gone to hell. The initiative to empower women has therefore become more like a curse than a blessing. Men are no longer the ones that protect the women but are now the ones who face the wrath from their women for not playing their part. These men have suffered for decades but have always been afraid to speak out for fear of being ridiculed.

We could chose to point fingers at the men for not styling up or the women for resolving to use violence in order to make the men listen but the crisis still continues.  It is therefore my sincere prayer that this issue be investigated thoroughly and strict measures put into place for those who violate any law that is elected to exterminate this hitch.

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