Femicide: the killing of females because of their gender; femicide is rooted in gender expectations, unequal power relations between men and women, and gender-based discrimination.
In recent years, Kenya has seen a shocking trend of brutal femicides.
Africa Data Hub has examined Kenyan news reports and from them, compiled “over 500 cases spanning from January 2016 to December 2023,” of which approximately 68% of the murders were suspected to be committed by a husband or boyfriend.
Among these hundreds of recent fatalities are three elite female athletes who were killed by their partners: Kenyan runners Agnes Jebet Tirop, Damaris Muthee Mutua, and Rebecca Cheptegei.
As Kenya is a highly patriarchal society, many find it possible that these men are lashing out because female athletes defy the stereotypical gender role of responsibility for the home and children, as well as submission and obedience to their husband.
Now let’s take a look into these cases.
Tirop, who was an Olympian, top competitor in World Athletics, and someone her former captain Julius Yego would refer to as “so peaceful, so humble, always smiling,” was found stabbed and beaten to death in her home- and the main suspect is her husband, Ibrahim Rotich.
Just weeks before her death, Tirop set the world record for the 10km road race with a time of 30:01.
As fate’s repayment for this colossal achievement, a tragic and brutal murder befell her.
Her home turned crime scene was found with a knife and club, according to responding police.
Allegedly, Rotich fled the scene and town, “driving aimlessly until I got [to] Mombasa,” said Rotich.
Eventually, Rotich admitted to the killing, but originally pleaded not guilty and was allowed to be free on bail.
Fellow runner and friend Joan Chelimo said “The perpetrators are not being held accountable. You can kill someone and you can still be free.”
Chelimo, and many others, finally had enough and decided to take action.
Repeated acts of gender violence and injustice for these women would lead to the Tirop’s Angels foundation, founded by Tirop’s family and Kenyan athletes, including Chelimo.
The mission of Tirop’s Angels is to stand “in unity against gender-based violence,” according to the Tirop’s Angels website.
In Kenyan culture, physical abuse toward women is simply a common form of discipline; so, the organization works to “change culture” and to do this, “we have to start with the young generation,” said Chelimo.
Since being founded in 2021, the group has made a significant impact.
Members of Tirop’s Angels spoke on a panel with Adidas leaders, and Adidas Running Communities senior manager Rebecca Gough said “our male captains and our male coaches said that they’ve just never explored this conversation [of female runner’s safety] before, and that’s really opened their eyes to how they can support female runners especially.”
Overall, the hope is that women can be recognized as valuable, individual humans.
Tirop’s teammate and friend Viola Cheptoo shared a powerful speech about this at her funeral.
“We need to be heard as women… Men understand this, we are athletes but we are also someone’s children. Please respect us, please love us, please value our hard work,” said Cheptoo.
Unfortunately, tragedies such as that of Tirop are not uncommon.
Kenyan runner Aliphine Tuliamuk said “Her [Cheptegei’s] story is not unique… It’s something that we’ve had over and over again.”
In 2022, Damaris Mutua was found strangled to death at the home of her boyfriend Eskinder Hailemaryam Folie (aka Koki Fai), who fled to Ethiopia.
Elgeyo Marakwet County Police Chief Tom Makori said Folie allegedly “called a friend whom they were training together and informed him that he has killed a girlfriend and the body was in the house,” after he had left the country.
The story of Mutua has a more clear possible motive than some others though.
She was married to another man, Felix Mwendwa Ngila and in 2022, Mutua moved to Iten, an elite training area for runners.
There, she lived with a friend Martha Akello; then, according to the New Yorker, Mutua later moved in with “an Ethiopian runner named Eskinder Hailemaryam Folie, with whom she was having an affair.”
Folie was beyond insecure, and was constantly worried about Mutua’s loyalty.
He “would monitor her movements and ask Kiprotich to run errands for her so that she wouldn’t have to leave the house” and “In April, 2022, Mutua saw her husband [Ngila] during a layover… which angered Folie,” according to the New Yorker.
Just days after this encounter with Ngila, Mutua’s lifeless body was found in their home, and after being accused of the murder, Folie told his friend Saleh Kiprotich that “the lady had so many boyfriends that she was dating him and dating other guys at the same time.”
While Mutua did have more than one partner, that is never justification for taking someone’s life.
Most recently, in September 2024, Cheptegei was doused in gasoline and set on fire, with her former boyfriend Dickson Ndiema Marangach being the main suspect.
The same morning, he called former runner Dennis Masai Chekongin, asking if he could borrow a lighter.
Chepkogin declined, and said “He [Marangach] became very secretive when I asked him why.”
He is an almost infallible suspect, but unfortunately, after being hospitalized, the two passed away.
“Cheptegei suffered burns on 75%-80% of her body, with Marangach suffering burns on 30%,” according to NPR.
When interviewed, Cheptegei’s family claimed that the two broke up in February 2024, so why now would he kill her?
Allegedly, the ex-partners were in conflict over a plot of land.
“Cheptegei is said to have bought a plot in Trans Nzoia county and built a house to be near Kenya’s elite athletics training centres,” according to BBC.
Such a dispute is not worthy of murder, nor is any other, and in light of Cheptegei’s passing, many are reminded of the deaths of Tirop and Mutua.
“It is sad because we are reminded of what happened to Agnes Tirop,” said Cheptoo, and with each death, evidence is revealed that Kenya has a deep-seated problem of gender-based violence.
“This tragedy is a stark reminder of the urgent need to combat gender-based violence, which has increasingly affected even elite sports,” Kenya’s Sports Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said.
Instead of being praised for their hard work and pursuit of success, these women’s lives and futures are taken from them.
Furthermore, as athletes, these women are targeted and are exploited by men who claim to be supporting their careers.
Kiprotich said “Men identify a lady who can run, then do everything for her, expecting that, when the lady becomes a star, he will be the one controlling the money.”
It is not just Kenya that struggles with femicide though; in the United States, domestic violence is also a prominent issue, with “intimate partners kill[ing] almost 50% of female… victims,” according to the National Library of Medicine.
Be a part of the fight against women’s violence: educate yourself and consider donating to the Tirop’s Angels Trust or another organization of your choice that is combating gender-based violence.