By Kelly Inyani.
“A new Unit will be formed to hunt sex pests in the Judiciary.” Yes, you read that right. This was the headline in the Standard Newspaper on 30th March, 2024. “Sex for grades: How lecturers across Africa prey on female students”, another headline on the Daily Nation Newspaper on 27th April, 2024. This is a clear indicator that this conversation needs immediate attention. A very emotive and sensitive topic, sexual harassment is one area very few would like to venture, one that evokes painful memories for both victims and would have been victims. It is a recurring topic within the country both in scholarly circles, investigative agencies, international organizations, news, and other researches.
The Sexual Offences Act No.3 of 2006 of Kenya in Section 24 (1) defines sexual harassment as (1) Any person, who being in a position of authority, or holding a public office, who persistently makes any sexual advances or requests which he or she knows,or has reasonable grounds to know, are unwelcome,is guilty of the offence of sexual harassment and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of not less than three years or to a fine of not less than one hundred thousand shillings or to both.
The United Nations defines sexual harassment as unwelcome sexual advances,requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment, or submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment.
According to Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) over 40% of women have experienced both physical and sexual violence. According to the Voice of America (VoA), Kenya has the highest sexual harassment rates among female journalists at 56% and sadly in 83% of the cases, the victims do not report the cases. Another study showed that 1 in every 10 college female students have experienced a form of sexual harassment from their lecturers. While another showed that the prevalence of sexual harassment experienced by these students is usually in their first or second semester of study.
According to a survey done by ActionAid in 2020, half of all female students and a quarter of male students in higher learning institutions in Kenya had been sexually harassed. The KNBS shows that approximately 40% of university students in Kenya have been exposed to sexual harassment in their course of studies. Sexual harassment may occur either in the physical space and/or in cyberspace.
Forms of sexual harassment
They can be categorized as verbal, non-verbal and physical. They include actual or attempted rape or sexual assault, unwanted pressure for sexual favors, unwanted or deliberate touching, leaning over, cornering, or pinching, unwanted sexual looks or gestures, unwanted letters, telephone calls, or materials of a sexual nature, unwanted pressure for dates, unwanted sexual teasing, jokes, remarks, or questions, referring to an adult as a girl, hunk, a doll, babe or honey; whistling at someone; cat calls, sexual comments, turning work discussions to sexual topics, sexual innuendos or stories, asking about sexual fantasies, preferences or history, personal questions about social or sexual life, sexual comments about a person’s clothing, anatomy or looks; kissing sounds, howling and smacking of lips, telling lies or spreading rumors about a person’s personal sex life; neck massage; touching an employee’s clothing, hair, or body; giving personal gifts; hugging, kissing, patting or stroking; touching or rubbing oneself sexually around another person; standing close or brushing up against another person; looking a person up and down; staring at someone; sexually suggestive signals; facial expressions, winking, throwing kisses, or licking lips and making sexual gestures with hands or through body movements.
Who are the perpetrators?
Unfortunately, they are usually people closer to us. Either a family member, neighbor, a dating partner, former lover, a friend, friend of a friend, colleagues at the workplace, spouse, teachers, university staff, religious leaders, health providers, politicians, law enforcement personnel, and strangers among others.
Where does sexual harassment occur?
Sexual harassment can occur anywhere at any time.These places may include at home, school, campus, churches, workplace, public spaces, entertainment joints, religious events, parties, public offices, police stations, hospitals, public transport, county offices.
Impacts of sexual harassment
Health complications, post-traumatic stress disorders, suicide, anxiety, poor self-esteem, depression, missed opportunities, job losses, anger,family wrangles, marriage issues, absenteeism, poor working relationships, drugs and substance abuse,self-harming, and financial burden among others.
Measures to curb sexual harassment
Arresting and prosecuting perpetrators, proper reporting procedures, developing and implementing sound sexual harassment policies, providing sexual harassment trainings, taking appropriate disciplinary actions against perpetrators, encourage the use of open office policy, strengthen bodies fighting sexual harassment, protecting victims, compensating victims, whistleblowing, raising awareness, naming and shaming, monitoring and tracking sexual offenders, and blacklisting sexual offenders.
How is Kibabii University addressing sexual harassment?
·Zero tolerance to sexual harassment;
·Development of a Sexual Harassment Policy;
·Creating awareness among students during inductions;
·Creating awareness among staff during trainings;
·Creation and strengthening of offices to address sexual harassment. These include; Human Resource (HR), The Office of the Dean of Students Affairs, Public Complaints & Compliments, Institute of Gender, Corruption Prevention Office among others;
·An online platform to report anonymously any form of corruption
Students are encouraged to report any form of sexual harassment to the different offices in the University or law enforcement as soon as it occurs.
