'Western, Nairobi men frequently beaten by their wives’

Planning PS Saitoti Torome (left) with Lilian Onono, county statistics officer, during the launch of the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey at KICC in Nairobi, yesterday. [PHOTO: EDWARD KIPLIMO/STANDARD]

Men from Western, Nairobi and Nyanza region are the most henpecked in the country, a survey has shown.

The survey, which is set to challenge perceptions that men from Central experience the highest abuse by their spouses, now suggests that more than half of male respondents from Western, Nairobi and Nyanza have experienced physical, sexual or emotional abuse from their wives.

This was revealed yesterday at the launch of the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) final report.

The survey is the sixth demographic and health survey conducted in the country since 1989 and is designed to provide data for monitoring the population and health situation.

In his keynote address during the launch at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Planning Principal Secreatry Saitoti Torome said the main objective of the survey was to provide up-to-date information for policy makers, planners, and researchers and programme managers that would inform and guide planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of population and health programmes in Kenya.

The survey was conducted from May to October 2014.

“Child survival has improved since the 2008-09 KDHS resulting in decline of childhood deaths in the past five years,” he said.

The survey shows that 60 per cent of men in Western and Nairobi regions surveyed have been beaten by their wives. This is followed by Nyanza at 56 per cent.

Eastern and Central regions come in fourth and fifth with 48 and 43 per cent of their men reporting spousal violence respectively.

The forms of violence range from just being pushed, shaken, or having things thrown at them. Others were slapped. Some women had their arms twisted or their hair pulled by their spouses.

Others were punched with a fist or something that could hurt them, kicked, drugged or just beaten up.

There were those who were choked or burnt on purpose, threatened or attacked withghj a knife, gun or any other weapon.

Victims were also asked if they had experienced some physical force to have them engage in sexual acts they did not want to or by the use of any other means.

At the national level, 24 per cent of ever-married men have experienced at least one form of spousal violence - emotional, physical, or sexual and just one per cent has experienced all three forms of violence. “Most of the spousal violence men report is in the form of emotional violence. Only nine per cent of ever-married men report spousal physical or sexual violence compared with 39 per cent of ever-married women,” the report says.

Muslim men, men in North Eastern region, and men without education are less likely than other subgroups of men to report at least one form of spousal violence.

This is the first survey to include questions on violence against men and its aim is to provide information to help monitor and evaluate population and health status. It is conducted by several agencies including the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in partnership with the Health ministry and others. Health PS Nicholas Muraguri said the survey was a message of hope as the country has made great strides in a number of indicators in the survey and “sets a firm foundation for the economic growth of the country”.

The report shows 47 per cent of ever-married women have experienced at least one form of spousal violence and nine per cent have experienced all three.

The percentage of women who have experienced at least one form of spousal violence generally increases with age. It is higher among Christian women (48-49 per cent) and lower among Muslim women (23 per cent), the report shows. Women in Western and Nairobi report the highest levels of violence (60 per cent each).

In terms of all the other forms of violence at the national level, at least two in every five Kenyans between 15 and 49 years old have experienced some form of physical violence.

Men who are Roman Catholic, protestant or other Christian faith, men with five or more children and formerly married men are more likely to have experienced physical violence since the age of 15 years than men in most other subgroups.

However, men without education and those in the ‘wealthiest’ category are less likely than their counterparts in other subgroups to have experienced physical violence from age 15.

Additional reporting by Jacqueline Mahugu