Hypocrisy in gender violence cases

Within the last one month, two cases of violence against women have stood out.

In one incident, 27-year-old Jackline Mwende was slashed to near death by her husband while in the other, a 21-year-old mother, Monica Waweru, was dragged out of her maternity bed to a police cell just hours after delivery on false allegations of stealing MPesa agency cash.

The public reaction to the Mwende case was a tsunami of empathy and bitterness against men, accompanied by prime-time TV debates.

The reaction to the second case was just a few tweets. This is despite the fact that Monica was dragged out of her bed by a male nurse, male police officers and her male employer. Even after it was proved Monica was innocent, her employer didn’t even apologise.

It seems the whole gender violence debate is punctuated by hypocrisy and dictated by emotions.