Kenya: Treatment of single or divorced women who are living alone, including access to housing and employment in Nairobi; availability of social services offered by government and civil society (2013-January 2014)
1. Overview
Sources indicate that there are significant numbers of women living alone in Nairobi (Oxfam 2012, 5; CREAW 27 Jan. 2012). In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, a programs/legal officer at the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW), a Nairobi-based non-partisan NGO, the mission of which is to "champion, expand and actualise women's rights" (CREAW 20 Jan. 2014), explained that the main reason for the high percentage of single women living alone in Nairobi is the large number of women who have escaped gender-based violence in their domestic partnerships (ibid 27 Jan. 2014). Women may also live alone in Nairobi because they have lost access to their matrimonial property after a divorce (ibid.; AI July 2010, 16; The Star 4 Apr. 2011). Additionally, sources indicate that widowed women escaping wife inheritance [also known as widow inheritance (SMAK 26 Jan. 2014; CREAW 27 Jan. 2014), the practice by which a man "inherits the widow of his brother or other close relative, regardless of her wishes" (US 19 Apr. 2013)] frequently relocate to urban areas (ibid.; FIDA-K Dec. 2012, 70), including Nairobi (ibid.). For further information about women's property rights and the practice of wife inheritance in Kenya, please consult KEN104758.
According to the CREAW programs/legal officer, however, many women also choose to live alone because they find that men do not contribute to the household or are poor household managers, or because they do not want to risk losing their property if they go through a divorce (27 Jan. 2014).
2. Access to Credit and Economic Resources
The Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya (FIDA-K) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to improving the legislative and policy framework for women's rights (FIDA-K and COHRE [2011], 3). The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization that works for the protection of housing rights and the prevention of forced eviction around the world (ibid.). The FIDA-K and COHRE 2011 joint shadow report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) says that obstacles to women's economic development include "lack of access to economic resources, including land ownership and inheritance, among others" (ibid., 26). Some sources indicate that women are often unable to obtain credit because they do not own their own land, which is the primary form of collateral when seeking credit (ibid., 27; The Nation 7 Dec. 2010). The US Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 also states that women faced "discrimination" in accessing credit (US 19 Apr. 2013, 40).
3. Access to Housing and Property
A 2013 article published by the London newspaper the Guardian indicates that, while Nairobi is home to 5,000 millionaires, 60 percent of the city lives in more than 100 informal settlements [also known as urban slums] (2 Oct. 2013). Oxfam reported in 2012 that more than half of Nairobi's residents lived in informal settlements that together make up five percent of the city's residential areas (Oct. 2012, 2). In contrast to the above, data from the 2009 population and housing census, published by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, indicate that approximately two-thirds of all female residents of Nairobi (one million women) live in formal settlements in the city, while approximately one third live in informal settlements (Kenya n.d.). According to the 2009 census data, women comprise approximately 46 percent of the population residing in informal dwellings in Nairobi (ibid.).
In a telephone interview with the Research Directorate, a programme officer at the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), an NGO founded in 1991 that campaigns for "the entrenchment of a human rights and democratic culture in Kenya" (KHRC n.d.), stated that women who own property in Nairobi are generally middle class women who have inherited it from their parents or spouse, although there are some women who have purchased their own property (ibid. 23 Jan. 2014). The programme officer explained that rent is relatively high in Nairobi, a two-bedroom apartment costing US$300-500 a month, which means that women coming to the city from rural areas can generally only afford informal housing (ibid.).
According to Oxfam, there are "high numbers" of single women and female-headed households in the informal settlements of Nairobi (Oct. 2012, 5). A 2011 article by the Star [Kenya] also reports an "influx" of women into urban slums due to the number of women escaping wife inheritance in rural areas (4 Apr. 2011). According to Amnesty International (AI), most women in Kenyan slums do not own their homes (July 2010, 16).
In correspondence sent to the Research Directorate, the founder and project director of the Single Mothers Association of Kenya (SMAK), a Nairobi-based NGO founded in 1991 to assist disadvantaged youth in education and life skills training (n.d.), stated that Kenya's [2010] constitution protects women's rights to buy and own property without a male co-signatory in any rural or urban area, and that women are able to rent housing or purchase it with a mortgage (26 Jan. 2014).
4. Employment
According to the project director of SMAK, it is "very possible for single women to be employed in any position in the city," depending on their level of education (26 Jan. 2014). The programme officer at KHRC indicated that educated women are able to find work in the formal sector, although unemployment is very high in Nairobi (23 Jan. 2014).
The SMAK project director indicated that women who have low levels of education can find work in factories or perform domestic labour or other jobs that do not require academic qualifications (26 Jan. 2014). The KHRC programme officer similarly stated that women arriving in the city from rural areas generally work in the informal sector, for example, doing casual work in the construction, processing, or packing industries, or domestic work such as child care, cleaning, or cooking (KHRC 23 Jan. 2014). The programme officer added, however, that the menial jobs available to such women are available on an "erratic" basis and sometimes require going door-to-door every day to find work for the day (ibid.). She indicated that having contacts or connections in the city and being known or established in the community makes it easier to find work (ibid.). According to the programs/legal officer at CREAW, women relocating from rural to urban areas typically find the first few months to be challenging in terms of finding employment, and generally engage in casual work (27 Jan. 2014). In a 2010 report on 130 women's experiences in Nairobi slums, AI writes that most women "make do with low paying casual jobs" such as small scale vending within the settlements or domestic work in higher income neighbourhoods, but that they "struggle to access gainful employment" (July 2010, 14-15).
AI notes that women performing domestic work are at risk of being sexually or physically abused by their employers (July 2010, 15). Similarly, the KHRC programme officer stated that there is a lot of gender-based discrimination, sexual violence, and ethnic discrimination in the informal job sector in particular, and that women who are new to the city can be "taken advantage of" (23 Jan. 2014).
Citing information obtained from community health workers in the slums of Mukuru and Korogocho in Nairobi, Oxfam reports that many women in those areas are often the sole provider for the family, and that they
live hand to mouth, putting together the money and food needed for the family from a range of sources, including money given by churches, cooking and selling food, trading in petty items, begging or scavenging, carrying loads at construction sites or engaging in sex work. (Oct. 2012, 6)
The Star suggests in the 2011 article that widows who relocate to the city to escape a forced remarriage may engage in sex work to make a living (4 Apr. 2011). Additionally, in focus group discussions with 14 male and female residents of Nairobi, FIDA-K heard accounts of mothers forcing their daughters to engage in "transactional sex" with neighbours to contribute to the family's income (Dec. 2012, 71). The programme officer at the KHRC also indicated that the number of women engaging in commercial sex work has been rising (23 Jan. 2014).
According to the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva that focuses on armed violence (n.d.), wages in Nairobi are "extremely low" and wages in the informal sector "have been static for years" (Dec. 2012, 17). Corroborating information could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
5. Access to Justice and the Law
Various sources indicate that women in Nairobi are vulnerable to gender-based violence (CREAW 27 Jan. 2014; Small Arms Survey Dec. 2012, 18; AI July 2010, 14-16), including in informal settlements (ibid.; Small Arms Survey Dec. 2012, 18). The Small Arms Survey, in its 2012 report on 90 interviews with residents of the Kangemi and Kawangware informal settlements of Nairobi, reports that women face violence that ranges from physical beatings to "extreme 'domestic' violence using crude weapons, rape, and gang rape, sadistic methods of sexual and non-sexual torture, and violent deaths and mutilation" (ibid.).
The Small Arms Survey reports "widespread" impunity for gender-based violence, noting that the police sometimes accept bribes from rapists and murderers to prevent perpetrators from being brought to justice (ibid., 15). AI writes that for most of the women living in informal settlements, "there has been virtually no medical, legal or other remedies" for the physical violence that they have faced (July 2010, 13). The CREAW programs/legal officer explained that women's lack of knowledge of their rights or experience in defending them may make them particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence (27 Jan. 2014). FIDA-K and COHRE write in their report to CEDAW that women's access to the law "continues to be hindered by factors such as poverty, low income levels, [and] lack of knowledge of their rights..." ([2011], 30). The report acknowledges that discrimination against women persists despite the existence of laws protecting women's rights, because of the ineffective implementation of existing legislation and the "misguided" or "patriarchal" interpretations of the law by the courts (FIDA-K and COHRE [2011], 7).
6. Access to Services
6.1 Government Services
According to a report published by 28 Too Many, a Kenyan charity dedicated to the eradication of female genital mutilation (28 Too Many May 2013, 4), the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation provides free primary health care, with a focus on preventative care (ibid., 17). The report notes that there is a mental health program in Kenya but that its services are "sparse" and are not covered by general health insurance (ibid.). According to the founder of SMAK, public hospitals lack doctors, nurses, drugs, and other medical necessities, and a recently introduced medical insurance program is not accessible to low income earners or the unemployed (26 Jan. 2014). The founder indicated that only wealthy citizens who can afford treatment at private hospitals can access health care (SMAK 26 Jan. 2014).
In its 2010 report to CEDAW, the government indicated that the Ministry of Justice had developed the National Legal Aid and Awareness Programme to assist low income citizens in accessing justice (Kenya 24 Mar. 2010, para. 33). Information on the implementation or effectiveness of this program could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response. In addition, the government established the Women Enterprise Fund to facilitate women's access to micro-finance credit, which, as of March 2009, had aided 92,000 women (ibid.; para. 53). It also established the Social Protection Fund "to access credit and cash transfer on flexible terms" (ibid.; para. 56). The government noted, however, that because these programs were dependent on donor funding, they have been limited in scope, and "the situation of women in relation to legal protection remains, largely, poor" (ibid.; para. 36). The FIDA-K and COHRE report to CEDAW similarly indicated that the impact of the government's programs had not reached a majority of Kenyan women, although a select few had benefited from them ([2011], 11).
6.2 Civil Society Organizations
According to the programme officer at the KHRC, there is not very much assistance given to single women looking for housing or employment, either from the government or from NGOs (23 Jan. 2014). She specified, however, that there are NGOs that work specifically with widows, women who have experienced gender-based violence, and women with HIV, but noted that the resources of such organizations are limited and that they do not assist with housing (23 Jan. 2014). According to the programs/legal officer at CREAW, there are a number of organizations in Nairobi providing services to women, including organizations that work on financial literacy and capacity building, and organizations that provide emergency short-term housing (CREAW 27 Jan. 2014).
CREAW runs an access-to-justice program that focuses on prosecuting cases of gender-based violence (ibid.). Also providing legal services is the Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW), a Nairobi-based NGO (COVAW n.d.), which runs an access-to-justice and women's rights program (ibid. [2013], 18) that employs 21 pro bono lawyers and took on 71 cases of violence against women in 2012, including 32 cases of intimate partner violence and 10 cases of divorce and alimony issues (ibid., 20). Additionally, FIDA-K offers legal aid to women whose rights have been violated, family mediation services, and psychosocial counselling (FIDA-K n.d.).
The founder of SMAK stated that her organization provides the following services to adult and adolescent single mothers:
- guidance and counselling;
- voluntary counselling and testing (VTC) services, home-based care, and support groups for HIV-positive women;
- continuing education services for teenage mothers;
- day care and kindergarten for children of single or working mothers;
- training in life skills such as tailoring, housekeeping, computers, entrepreneurship, etc.;
- referral to partners for legal services, loans, and health services (26 Jan. 2014).
According to the KHRC programme officer, there are several organizations that provide legal support to women, but they may not have the resources to reach some disadvantaged women, particularly those who are uninformed about their rights and do not seek out assistance from them (23 Jan. 2014).
Further information on NGOs providing services to single women in Kenya could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate within the time constraints of this Response.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
28 Too Many. May 2013. Country Profile: FGM in Kenya. [Accessed 24 Jan. 2014]
Amnesty International (AI). July 2010. Insecurity and Indignity: Women's Experiences in the Slums of Nairobi, Kenya. (AFR 32/002/2010) [Accessed 24 Jan. 2014]
Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW). 27 January 2014. Telephone interview with a programs/legal officer.
Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW). 20 January 2014. "Communication and Advocacy Officer." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2014]
Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW). [2013]. Fired Up: Annual Report 2012. [Accessed 24 Jan. 2014]
Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW). N.d. "Contact Us." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2014]
Daily Nation [Nairobi]. 7 December 2010. Nancy Baraza. "Women Still Denied Equal Property Rights." (Factiva)
Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya (FIDA-K). December 2012. Base Line Survey on Community-Based Legal Assistance Schemes Partnerships - (LASPS): Survey Report. [Accessed 24 Jan. 2014]
Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya (FIDA-K) and Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE). [2011]. Joint Submission Shadow Report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. [Accessed 20 Jan. 2014]
The Guardian [London]. 2 October 2013. Mark Anderson. "Kenyan Women Sue for Ownership of Nairobi Slum." [Accessed 24 Jan. 2014]
Kenya. 24 March 2010. Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: Seventh Periodic Report of States Parties. (CEDAW/C/KEN/7) [Accessed 20 Jan. 2014]
Kenya. N.d. Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. "Population Distribution by Sex, Place of Residence and Type of Settlement." [Accessed 20 Jan. 2014]
Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC). 23 January 2014. Telephone interview with a programme officer.
Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC). "Who We Are." [Accessed 28 Jan. 2014]
Oxfam. October 2012. Cash Transfers in Nairobi's Slums. Gender Equality in Emergencies: Practical Lessons. [Accessed 20 Jan. 2014]
Single Mothers Association of Kenya (SMAK). 26 January 2014. Correspondence to the Research Directorate from the founder and project director.
Single Mothers Association of Kenya (SMAK). N.d. "About SMAK." [Accessed 20 Jan. 2014]
Small Arms Survey. December 2012. Battering, Rape, and Lethal Violence: A Baseline of Information on Physical Threats Against Women in Nairobi. Working Paper 13. [Accessed 20 Jan. 2014]
Small Arms Survey. N.d. "About the Small Arms Survey." [Accessed 27 Jan. 2014]
The Star [Kenya]. 4 April 2011. Mercy Njoroge. "Despite Law, Women Still Don't Own Property." (Factiva)
United States (US). 19 April 2013. Department of State. "Kenya." Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012. [Accessed 20 Jan. 2014]
Additional Sources Consulted
Oral sources: A representative of FIDA-Kenya could not provide information for this Response. Attempts to contact representatives of the following organizations were unsuccessful: Association of African Women for Research and Development; African Centre for Empowerment Gender and Advocacy (Kenya); Coalition on Violence Against Women (Kenya); Groots Kenya; Kenya Voluntary Women's Rehabilitation Centre; National Council of Women of Kenya.
Internet sites, including: The Danish Institute for Human Rights; Daughters of Mumbi Global Resource Center; ecoi.net; Kenya – Department of Justice, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development, National Hospital Insurance Fund; Kenyan Human Rights Association; Kenyan Woman; Kibera Community Justice Centre; Landesa; Social Institutions and Gender Index; Ugunja Community Resource Centre; Womankind Kenya.