Femicide, the gender-based killing of women, is a pressing crisis in Kenya, with over 500 women murdered since 2016. Despite rising public protests and calls for justice, femicide continues to be normalized in public discourse. This study investigates how legacy media outlets shape the framing of femicide and its broader social understanding. Drawing on feminist theories of violence, it analyzes headlines and articles from 100 femicide cases in Kenyan news media (primarily from 2024), focusing on tone, voice, victim identification, terminology, and contextualization.
The project also incorporates interviews with journalists, editors, and grassroots activists to capture the constraints, editorial decisions, and counter-narratives that shape reporting practices. Findings reveal that linguistic choices often obscure systemic violence, diminish perpetrator accountability, and reinforce victim-blaming narratives. Conversely, data-driven reporting and activist counter-discourses frame femicide as part of a wider pattern of gender-based violence, demanding cultural and political recognition.
This study underscores the importance of naming femicide as a distinct category to strengthen prevention, accountability, and justice. It calls for media practices that move beyond episodic crime reporting toward systemic framing that acknowledges femicide as a structural crisis.