Violence against women is defined as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life private life.

 Gender based violence is harm inflicted on to someone because of his /her sex. The harm may be physical or psychological in all its forms. Violence against women is phenomenal and universal. It manifests itself in different arenas, namely economic, political, social, and private spheres of human life.

Since this topic is on domestic violence I will concentrate on private the spheres.

The most common victims of domestic violence are women. They constitute the majority of cases commonly reported to the police and relevant authorities. However some men have also suffered domestic violence, usually abused by their female partners. Nonetheless, I will focus on women the common victims of domestic violence, and the effects of domestic violence as a cause to women heading households.

Kenya is generally a patriarchal society in and wife beating is common, women are dissuaded from seeking protection from abuse, in part, by cultural biases condoning wife-beating or for fear of stigmatization in their own communities, but as a developing nation, officially committed to securing the rights of women under the universal Declaration of Human Rights, Kenya struggles to bring the penal code in line with women’s rights.  

Secondly in the way the socialization of boys and girls enhances the perpetuation of physical violence. For example, boys who grow up seeing their mothers being battered by their fathers may think that this is the  norm .Meanwhile girls who grow up seeing their mothers being battered may grow up to expect the same and hence will not see anything wrong with it.

This is particularly the case in cultures where it is believed that being battered by ones husband is a sign of love. This kind of thinking has been accused of inviting the battering, which they then are interpreting as love from their husbands.

The third observed cause of domestic violence is that women are often expected to be sex objects, who should be submissive to the spouses’ sexual demands. Women are expected to tolerate physical abuse, including sexual abuse within the marriage because it is believed to be part of marriage life.

A fourth and commonly cited cause of domestic violence is the economic dependence of women on men, heightening emotional violence against women. Some men usually take advantage of women under such circumstances, because such women have no alternative source of survival. Despite some studies revealing that some well off  women endure violence, the majority of those who endure violence are poor, suggesting that having control over resources empowers men over their poor wives.

The fifth and newly focused upon cause of domestic violence is drug and alcohol abuse. These are especially likely to lead to violence in homes where the relationship is already problematic. Violence against women, especially by intimate partners, is a serious public health problem that is associated with physical, reproductive, and mental health consequences. The effect of intimate partner violence on women's ability to control their fertility and the mechanisms through which these phenomena are related merit further investigation.

Violence against women is deeply rooted into social and cultural practices and has been regarded as strictly a private affair that it is difficult to analyze the depth of the problem. However, although the task is a difficult one, it must be done: the cities of tomorrow cannot be developed harmoniously if they are unable to respond to the needs and aspirations of half of their inhabitants.

Women who become single heads of households, particularly in Africa, are particularly vulnerable, as in many countries in the region they can still only access land through husbands and or fathers ,where women’s land ownership is relationship based, they risk losing access to land after divorce, widowhood, desertion, or  male migration, which may lead destitution , Cohen L ,2007. It is estimated that one in every five women faces some form of violence during her lifetime, in some cases leading to serious injury or death.

Feminist theory explicitly explains domestic violence in the African context.

Indeed it is difficult to avoid inequality .Almost every traditional African society was patriarchal and a woman’s place within this scheme was decidedly subordinate. Institutionalization of this inequality remains common in African customary law. Most African systems of customary law ,women have no right to inherit from their husbands ,are not regarded as sharing ownership of marital property ,are excluded from ownership of land and   are almost without remedy upon divorce.

Gender inequality is so widespread, domestic violence is often discussed by African authors on simply a brief subsection in articles on violence against women in general or about gender inequality in Africa.

The conclusion reached by these authors is that unless the systemic inequality between men and women is addressed the problem of violence will persist.

Women have decided to leave abusive partners and head households. They have the conviction that an abusive partner has no place in the family set up. People learn through others, the theory emphasizes the subordination of   women due to their dependability to men. This theory acts as a pillar to support the notion that domestic violence has played a significant role in the increase of female headed households.

In this regard there is an emerging theme that I find very disturbing and demoralizing to women, the fact that men especially African men are against women’s empowerment. The belief that an empowered woman is disrespectful and wants to control the man, I am  convinced that an empowered woman  will reduce the burden bestowed upon men to be providers of the family as  it is clear that empowering of women provides a leveled playing field for both genders.