MEASURING THE SHADOW PANDEMIC:

VIOLENCE AGAINSTWOMEN DURING
COUNTRY REPORT: KENYAEXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The COVID-19 pandemic has had strong impacts on women’s day-to-day lives in Kenya.
Women reported feeling less safe, experiencing more frequent incidents of abuse and harassment, and being subjected to more dangerous situations over the past year. Congruently,
the downstream impacts of COVID-19 vary,in type and severity, based on pre-existing
factors, including socioeconomic status andvulnerability to other stressors. This researchdelved into the relationships between measures of violence against women (VAW) and thedemographic, behavioural and socioeconomic
factors related to them.
This study found that COVID-19 has eroded
women’s feelings of safety in Kenya, whether
it was inside or outside of their households,
with significant negative impacts on theirmental and emotional well-being. Among thedrivers of these feelings, external stressors
such as food insecurity and family relations
stood out as having a significant impact not
only on experiences of safety (or violence) but
also on women’s well-being overall.

1. INTRODUCTION
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kenya’s Demographic Health Survey found that 41% of
women aged 15–49 have experienced physicalviolence and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner at least once in their lifetime,1
which outpaces the global estimated averageof 27%.2
Since the pandemic began, rapid assessments
conducted by UN Women using administrative
data from police, VAW hotlines and other service-providers suggested an increase in reported cases of violence against women and girls.
Measures implemented to limit the spread of
the pandemic, such as lockdowns and curfews,
have had an impact on VAW risk factors, especially for women and girls who faced multiple
forms of discrimination.
Within this context, UN Women commissioned
Ipsos to conduct a rapid gender assessment
survey on the impact of COVID-19 on women’s
1
2

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). 2014. Kenya
Demographic and Health Survey 2014. p. 308.
World Health Organization (WHO). N.D. Global Database on
Violence Against Women.

well-being and safety in 13 countries acrossregions. In adapting the surveying methodology to be feasible in the COVID-19 context,
proxy measures on experiences of VAW wereused to collect data on sensitive topics to reduce the risk to the respondents, and thus may
not be directly comparable to other studies
conducted before the pandemic.
Having reliable data that was collected inline with methodological, safety and ethicalstandards, without putting women at greater
distress and risk of violence, was critical to informing where policies and programmes can
respond to the UN’s system-wide efforts toscale up actions to address VAW in the context
of COVID-19.
This report details the findings from the survey in Kenya in May 2021. The survey was conducted with women aged 18 and older who
had access to a mobile phone – a population
is estimated to be roughly 86% of this specificpopulation group in Kenya.3
3

GSM Association. 2020. The Mobile Gender Gap Report 2020.

2

KEY FINDINGS
80%
of women said
that they or other
women they know
have experienced aform of violence.

65%

53%

52%

Verbal Abuse

Denied Basic
Needs

Physical Abuse

21%

45%

of women feel unsafe intheir homes.

said this has gotten worse as a resultof the COVID-19 pandemic.

21%

43%

of women live in households withconflict among adults at least weekly.

said conflict between adults has
become more frequent as a result of
the COVID-19 pandemic.

68%
of women think that the experience of
verbal or physical abuse at the hands ofa partner is common for women in theircommunity.

92%
said this has gotten worse as a resultof the COVID-19 pandemic.

48%

48%

of women think that physical harm,abuse and harassment are a problem
for women in their community.

of women think physical harm, abuse,and harassment has gotten worse since
the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

60% walking alone at night.
of women feel unsafe

16% walking alone during the day.
of women feel unsafe

56%
of women think that it iscommon for women to
be harassed in public.

Measuring the shadow pandemic:
Violence against women during COVID-19

3

2. PERCEPTIONS OF VIOLENCEAGAINST WOMEN
2.1. Perceptions of violence against
women in the community
When asked about physical harm, abuse andharassment in their community, almost half(48%) of women said they believe it is a problem and an additional 28% said it is “a little bit”
of a problem.

Physical harm, abuse and harassment in thecommunity were more likely to be perceived
as a problem by women who: earn an income,are heads of their household, experience foodinsecurity, had a decrease in income since thestart of the pandemic, and those who experience frequent conflict or felt unsafe in theirhomes.

FIGURE 1

Extent to which physical harm, abuse, or harassment is a problem in the community

All women

24%

Among those who
felt unsafe walking
around alone

29%

Among those
who felt unsafe
in their home

24%

27%

35%

Among those who
experienced frequenthousehold conflict atleast weekly

21%

28%

25%

40%

A lot

28%

25%

24%

Somewhat

A little bit

22%

2%

14%

2%

13%

2%

11% 2%

Not at all

Note: “Don’t know”, in the grey bars comprised 3% or less of total responses in each category

Additionally, about half of women (48%) said
physical harm, abuse and harassment has increased in their community since the startof the COVID-19 pandemic. This may be an

outgrowth from stress related to economic orgender norms, as it was less reported by fulltime caregivers and those that are likely foodsecure.

42.2. Proxy measures of violenceagainst women in the communityof COVID-19 on women’s perception of safety
and well-being.

When considering ways to measure violenceagainst women at the community level, it isimportant to keep in mind the context of thisstudy. Due to the remote nature of this survey,
indirect questions were asked as proxy indicators of VAW, meaning it was not possible
to distinguish respondent experiences fromthose of other women in their community or
to know whether this violence occurred within or outside of the respondents’ household.
While data from this study should not be interpreted as prevalence data, it neverthelessprovides critical information on the impact

The majority of women (80%) know a woman
who has experienced a form of VAW (such as
physical harm, denial of basic needs, sexual
harassment, restrictions or verbal abuse), or
have experienced this themselves, since thestart of the pandemic. Women who said they
have felt unsafe in their home were more likely
to report this.
Experiences and/or knowledge of physicalabuse were higher among women who said
they feel unsafe, whether it was at home or in
public, as well as women who were separated/divorced or in jointly headed households.

FIGURE 2

Percentage of women who reported experiencing or knowing someone who has experienceddifferent types of violence, by their experience of safety
65%

Been yelled at,called names, humiliated

71%
79%

Had resources, like healthcare,or basic needs like money, food,water, shelter, denied53%

Had been slapped, kicked,
had things thrown at them,or other physical harm

52%

59%
70%

57%
64%

Been forced to stay alone for long
periods of time or denied
communication with others

44%

Been the subject of inappropriate
jokes, suggestive comments,
leering, or unwelcome
touching/kissing

42%

Among women who felt
unsafe at home

46%
55%

49%
55%

Among women who felt unsafe
walking alone

Women who said they or someone they know
have experienced a form of VAW were nearlyfour times more likely to be food insecure(78–80%) compared to women that did not

All women(61–67%), indicating that structural andeconomic factors could be a significant driverof violence against women.

Measuring the shadow pandemic:
Violence against women during COVID-19

5

3. SAFETY IN THE
PUBLIC SPHERE
3.1. Personal safety in the
public sphere
When out in their communities, the majorityof women said they feel safe walking aroundthe areas where they live during the day (84%),
but this drops to just 36% when asked thesame question about walking alone at night,
and over half (55%) said they feel less safe
while out at night since the start of COVID-19.

Women aged 60 or older were more likely
to feel safe in public than younger women,
whether it was during the day or at night.
Experiences of safety also differed across urban and rural areas, with women living inurban areas slightly more likely to say theyfelt unsafe during the day, and those in rural
areas more likely to feel unsafe at night aswell as feeling less safe since the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic.

FIGURE 3

Perceptions of safety while out in public, by location
Felt unsafe walking
alone during the day

Felt unsafe walking
alone at night

Felt less safe since theonset of COVID-19

63%
57%

18%

Urban

58%
51%

14%

Rural

Urban

There was also a direct correlation between
women who thought harm, abuse or harassment is a problem in their community and

Rural

Urban

Rural

those who reported that their feelings of safety have decreased since the onset of COVID-19.

6

3.2. Women’s perceived safety inthe public sphere
There is a clear trend that women’s perceptionof their own personal safety has gotten significantly worse since the onset of COVID-19. But
beyond personal experiences, general feelingsof safety within the larger community havealso deteriorated. Over half (56%) of womensaid they think it is common for women toexperience harassment and safety issues inpublic at night, which is consistent with 60%
of women who said they feel unsafe at night.

FIGURE 4

Percentage of women who felt unsafe, by their perceptions of safety in their communities

Felt unsafe walking
alone during the day

Felt unsafe walking
alone at night

66%

Felt less safe since theonset of COVID-19

61%

39%
34%
17%

Yes

13%

No

Thought harm/abuse/harassment is a problem

Yes

No

Thought harm/abuse/harassment is a problem

This was particularly the case among women
who reported generating an income for theirhousehold, perhaps related to the fact thatthey are more likely to move through public
spaces.
The majority of women (80%) expected thatwomen experiencing harassment or abuse in
the public sphere would seek help, and morethan half (58%) said that they expected women would go to the police.

Yes

No

Thought harm/abuse/harassment is a problem

Although it is clear that women have an increased sense of anxiety and fear outside of
the household, this had not stopped most ofthem from engaging in public. The majority ofwomen (83%) said that they leave their houseat least once a week and still see their friends
and social groups with either the usual or reduced frequency despite constraints related to
the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting feelingsof safety.

Measuring the shadow pandemic:
Violence against women during COVID-19

7

4. SAFETY INSIDE THE HOME
4.1. Personal safety inside the home
When it comes to safety within the household,21% of women said that there has been conflict between adults in their household at least
weekly over the past six months and nearly
half (43%) said that conflict has become more

frequent since the onset of COVID-19. Those
who experienced conflict more often weremore than three times more likely to say thatthe frequency has increased as a result of thepandemic, suggesting that existing household
tensions have been exacerbated.

FIGURE 5

Changes in household conflict as a result of COVID-19

All women

43%

Among women fromhouseholds withfrequent conflict
between adults
Among women fromhouseholds with
infrequent conflict
between adults

38%

16%

2%

10%

7%

20%

3%

83%

27%

More frequent

50%

About the sameLess frequent

Note “Don’t know” answers (in grey) comprised 3% or less of total responses in each category

One woman out of five (21%) said they havefelt unsafe in their household in the last six
months, and 45% of these women said that the
COVID-19 pandemic has made things worse.

Additionally, those who experienced frequent
conflict (at least weekly) between adults in thehousehold were more than twice as likely tohave felt unsafe in their homes.

8

FIGURE 6

Perceptions of women’s safety in the household by frequency of household conflict

All women

6%

Among women who
felt unsafe at home

7%

30%

Among women who
felt safe at home

5% 11%

12%

Daily

15%

Weekly

13%

42%

18%

23%

34%

44%

Monthly

9%

27%

Once or twice

Never

Note “Don’t know” answers (in grey) comprised 3% or less of total responses in each category

Women who felt unsafe in their homes weremore likely than others to be moderately or severely food insecure, to have children, to generate an income, or to jointly head their household – again indicating that external stressors
and relational statuses alike can significantly
impact household dynamics.
When asked why they have felt unsafe intheir homes, women cited verbal (47%) andphysical abuse (30%) as well as issues around
trust as the main drivers. Women who said
they are full-time caregivers were much more
likely than the average to cite verbal abuse asa reason they felt unsafe (75%), while women
aged 60 or over were more likely than average to cite physical abuse as a reason they felt
unsafe (59%).

Measuring the shadow pandemic:
Violence against women during COVID-19

9

FIGURE 7

Reasons for women feeling unsafe in their homes, among the 21% who reported feeling unsafe
My shelter was insecure (e.g., there are no locks)

50%

There was verbal abuse in my household

47%

I was living with people I could not trust

31%

There was physical violance in my household

30%

I was unable to communicate/reach out for help

26%

Other adults in the household had hurt me

26%

There was substance abuse (e.g., alcohol or drugs)in the household

25%

Other adults in the household had been hurt24%

I had a serious medical condition or disability and felt vulnerable

18%

Children in the household had been hurt

18%

Another reason

22%

Indicates reasons most closely tied to violence

Additionally, half of women who felt unsafe
at home said their shelter was insecure,indicating a crossover between VAW in public

spaces and in the household. This reason
was most often given by women that are
separated or divorced (71%).

10

4.2. Women’s perceived safetyinside the home
When considering the broader community,
68% of women said they think that the experience of verbal or physical abuse at the handsof a partner is common for women. Among

women who perceived violence, abuse, or aharassment to be a problem in their community, this number increased to 75%. The
overwhelming majority of all women (92%)
thought things have gotten worse since thestart of the pandemic.

FIGURE 8

Perception of partner abuse

All womenAmong women who
thought violence, abuse, orharassment is a problem
in their community

Among women who
had felt unsafe intheir home

Very common

27%

33%

39%

Common

41%

20%

43%

18%

43%

Uncommon

9% 2%

15%

5% 1%

3%

Very uncommon

Note “Don’t know” answers (in grey) comprised 3% or less of total responses in each category

Women respondents that said it is very common for women to experience violence at thehands of a partner were more likely to be foodinsecure (82% were moderately or severely
food insecure; 30% being severely) compared
to women who said it is uncommon (66% and25%, respectively). Additionally, women who

reported feeling unsafe in their own homewere much more likely to think that abuse at
the hands of a partner is common (82%), as
were women who said they or a women theyknow has experienced any type of violence,
although this is particularly pronounced forphysical abuse and sexual harassment.

Measuring the shadow pandemic:
Violence against women during COVID-19

11

FIGURE 9

Percentage of respondents who reported knowing of or experiencing different types ofviolence, by whether they thought violence at the hands of a partner is common
74%
62%

61%
50%

46%

50%

38%
31%

Physical abuse

31%

Verbal abuse

Resource restriction

Forced isolation

27%

Sexual harassment

Thought violence at the hands of a partner is common
Did not think violence at the hands of a partner is common

These data points suggest that women may
be including their own experiences when reporting on the experiences of women in theircommunity, as well as bolstering the evidencebased theory that women who report safetyincidents happening within the homes are
more likely to think that abuse is common in
the community overall.
Similar to experiences of violence outside thehome, the majority of women (82%) said they

believe that women would seek out help ifthey experienced verbal or physical abuse at
the hands of a partner. However, the sourcesof support differed, with only 20% of respondents expecting women to go to the police,
and an equal number saying women would
seek support from family or women’s centres.
This indicates that domestic violence may beunderreported to authorities in comparison toother forms of VAW.

12

5. IMPACTS OF VIOLENCEAGAINST WOMENThis study indicates strong relationships between measures of VAW and changes in women’s behaviour and feelings of mental andemotional well-being.
Impressions and experience of safety (or lackthereof) may be a major driver of women’s
perception of problems in their life and theirability to handle them, as well as an indication of their mental and emotional well-being.
Women that said they had felt unsafe, whether it was in their home or in the public sphere,
were more likely to report issues with mental
health and to say that the COVID-19 pandemic
has impacted them negatively.

FIGURE 10

Measures of mental health by feelings of safety in the home and the public sphere
68%

Difficulties piled
up too high tooverccome

79%
73%
59%

Unable to control
the important
things in life

68%
65%
70%

Mental and emotional
health affected negatively
by COVID-19

All women

86%76%Felt unsafe in home

Women who reported experiencing safety issues also said that the COVID-19 pandemic had
an exclusively negative impact on their lives atsignificantly higher rates than women who
had not experienced safety issues, whether
it was inside or outside the household. Additionally, the majority of women who said that
COVID-19 has negative impacts on their mental health were likely to be severely food insecure (31%) compared to those who said
COVID-19 has not impacted their mental
health (14%). This suggests, as previous reports have found, that the negative impacts ofFelt unsafe walking around alone

COVID-19 are felt the strongest by those already experiencing hardship.
The impacts of violence against women in
public and private spheres was also observed
when analysing women’s socialization andmovement patterns. Women who reported
feeling unsafe in their own home were more
likely to have said they see their friends rarely.
However, the same patterns were not reflected in questions about movement – womenthat feel unsafe at home were just as likely as
those who do not to leave the house at regularintervals.

Measuring the shadow pandemic:
Violence against women during COVID-19

13

6. RECOMMENDATIONS
The impacts of COVID-19 on VAW in Kenya aresignificant and cannot be ignored. Women in
Kenya encounter violence in public and in private spheres, at the hands of strangers andof those closest to them. With around threequarters of women likely experiencing foodinsecurity at the time of the study and one
in eight respondents saying they had lost income, mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
external stressors that can increase the risk of
VAW are on the rise.
As a result of the intersectionality of VAW,
policy and programmatic interventions required tailoring to the factors driving different experiences of violence. Not only does thetype of response that is best suited to address
VAW vary based on the specific experiences ofwomen, but the resources they seek out vary
as well. This work stresses the importance ofpartnering with the existing infrastructurethat supports women in vulnerable situations
to empower communities with the full suite ofresources they may need to support women.
Considering this, the research supports threerecommendations:
1. Interventions that are meant to address
VAW should consider how policy interventions in other areas may alleviate some of theroot causes of VAW, which are disproportionately felt by women.
The intersection and continuum of VAW calls
for a comprehensive policy framework on
VAW, which mainstreams the issue and its
impact across all policy areas. Some of the associated root causes, as reflected in the survey,
are socioeconomic status that leads to vulnerability. More specifically, the results of thissurvey call to further link economic programmes to initiatives on ending VAW, as

they highlight the reciprocal causal effects
of both women’s rights’ infringements andvulnerability factors. As with any programme
implementation, however, it is critical to acknowledge the impacts of changing power
dynamics within the household on relational
stress between family members, as well as thedownstream effects that may result.
2. Trust in existing institutions and community-level infrastructure in Kenya should becapitalized on to bolster women’s confidence
and feelings of safety while moving aroundpublic spaces.
These types of initiatives could help improve
feelings of safety for women that are often out
in their communities for work or because they
are socializing with others. Similarly, improving resources available at local police stations,
including providing training or capacity-building, may encourage women to report violence,
abuse or harassment that happens in theircommunities. Police departments may be able
to serve their communities more effectively
by providing dedicated staff who are familiar
with VAW to respond to complaints of thisnature.
3. The challenges associated with intrahousehold conflict will require programmaticinterventions that are sensitive to traditional
gender roles and as well as the limits of trust
in institutions.
Centralized resources may not be accessible
for all women experiencing violence from apartner or other household member, not only
because domestic violence is often considereda private matter but also because of a lack ofaccessibility and fear of repercussions. Suchcases require careful placement of resources14

in more informal channels where women feel
comfortable reporting – for instance, throughwomen’s centres and community leaders who
are trained on how to handle VAW reporting.
As with programmatic gender mainstreaming, it is important to consider the impacts

that interventions may have on particular external stressors, such intentional or accidental
shifting of gender roles and norms that could
easily do more harm than good if not carefully
accounted for.

7. METHODOLOGY
The survey was fielded via Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing using randomdigit dialing to mobile numbers between
30 April–21 May, 2021. The total number ofcompleted interviews was 1224. During thesurvey period, Kenya’s COVID-19 caseload was
falling out of a third wave (where case counts
ranged from roughly 500 to 1,000 per day).
However, areas around Nairobi were put into
lockdown and experienced nightly curfews
during the uptick of the third wave in March–
April. Curfews were scheduled to continue until the end of May 2021.

The sample was drawn via random-digit dialing among the population with mobile phone
numbers, so the sample population is limited
to women aged 18 or over with mobile phone
access. Women over the age of 60 were also
specifically targeted with an existing databaseto ensure adequate coverage of this age group.
The percentages for each age group in this survey sample match the percentages for eachage group from Kenya’s Census data.4

Age group

Percentage of adult women based on Census data

Percentage of adult women from sample data

18–29

40.3

40.3

30–39

24.1

24.1

40–49

15.0

15.0

50–59

9.3

9.3

60+

11.4

11.4

4 KNBS. 2019. Kenya Population and Housing Census.
Vol. 3. https://www.knbs.or.ke/?wpdmpro=2019-kenyapopulation-and-housing-census-volume-iii-distribution-ofpopulation-by-age-sex-and-administrative-units

Measuring the shadow pandemic:
Violence against women during COVID-19

15

DEFINITIONSCommunity: A term that is referencing thegeographic area in which the respondent lives.
Food insecurity: This study used the World
Food Programme/Food and Agriculture Organization formulation to measure food insecurity with an eight-statement battery ofquestions. These data can be used to establish
estimates of the proportion of the sample who
were moderately or severely food insecure,which can also be disaggregated by other variables of interest through the use of the FAO
Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES)5 module. Any references in the report to prevalenceof moderate or severe food insecurity represent estimates of the prevalence and should
be interpreted as such.

5Partnered: A term referring to women who
were married or living/cohabiting with apartner.
Violence against women: Any act of genderbased violence that results in, or was likely
to result in, physical, sexual or psychologicalharm or suffering to women, including threatsof such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivationof liberty, whether occurring in public or in
private life.

The FIES software developed by FAO can be found online athttps://fies.shinyapps.io/ExtendedApp/

16© 2021 UN Women. All rights reserved.
The views expressed in this publication arethose of the author(s) and do not necessarily
represent the views of UN Women, the United
Nations or any of its affiliated organizations.
Produced by the Women Count programme
Editor: Jen Ross
Design: Ouissal Hmazzou

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