Jobless husband ruthlessly beats 7-month pregnant wife for not performing ‘wifely duties’

Most men in today’s society lack respect for the women in their lives; be it their wives or mothers. The lengths to which such men abuse their women is really shocking. Few days ago while in a matatu, I heard a really disturbing conversion between a radio presenter from a local station and a lady who called on behalf of her neighbor who was being abused by the husband.

The lady talked of how her neighbor, Grace is being mistreated by her husband Peter, for no good reason. The husband would beat up the wife every night for not performing her ‘wifely duties’. What’s sad is that the wife is seven months pregnant but the husband does not seem to care. He would come home at night and if he doesn’t find food ready, he would beat up the wife and call her useless.

The worst part about the whole scenario is that Peter is jobless while the 7 months pregnant wife goes to work every morning. The neighbor said that the husband spends the whole day with his boys at the ‘base’ and drink cheap liquor and chew mirra or muguka. Then when he gets home, he would argue with his wife which later results to the domestic abuse.

The neighbor said that the wife is very shy and she does not speak to neighbors because she fears what the husband might do to her. The neighbor however said that she was going to report the matter to the police because she cannot stand to see the pregnant woman suffer in the hands of the ruthless and ungrateful husband.

Cases of domestic violence on Kenya are not news. "We have had a drastic increase of numbers. We started from around 299 in 2006, then we moved to 412 in 2007, then in 2008 we had another 400 and over," said Teresa Omondi a program manager at the Gender Violence Recovery Center in Nairobi Women's Hospital.

Domestic violence has been a long-standing problem in Kenya, particularly in rural areas. Deeply ingrained beliefs about gender roles and marriage have encouraged the practice, says Ann Njogu, executive director of the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW). "In a patriarchal society, domestic violence is actually recognized as one way of disciplining one's wife. In fact, even the society socializes you as a woman to anticipate this discipline. It is so deeply inculcated in many people's' minds. We have women who say, when they have not been beaten, their husbands have stopped loving them," continued Teresa.

Let us be our brother’s keeper and report such cases to the police.