Rebecca Cheptegei's Death & How Women & Girls Are Abused

Thursday, 5 September 2024

By: TB Obwoge

This story is about Rebecca Cheptegei and every woman around the world. The time has come for a radical movement demanding a change to end the murder and rape of women and girls.

I am not understanding why more women are not posting to social media about the things happening to women. I have been shadow banned on TikTok for making videos about women's issues, no violence, no cursing but women's rights and children's rights. 

I have read some things that have been extremely heartbreaking, then I've gotten angry. 

Cameroon an 11-year old was walking to school, she was gang raped by a group of 4 men. In South Africa, a man had sex with his own 8 day old, infant daughter, she died. 

Rampant femicide in Ghana, spilling over to the United States, 2 Ghanaian men murdered their wives the first weekend of January 2024.

Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei, who competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics, has died from burns four days after police say her former boyfriend poured gasoline on her and set her on fire.

The death of Cheptegei, 33, who was taken to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya with burns over more than 75% of her body on Sunday, was announced by the hospital's director and the Ugandan Athletics Federation.

Cheptegei, who was in the hospital's intensive care unit, "passed today morning at 5:30 a.m. after her organs failed," Owen Menach, the hospital's senior director of clinical services, told Reuters. A full report regarding the circumstances of her death would be released later in the day, he said.

Source: USA.TODAY.COM

According to the United Nations Women's data, these are some of the issues surrounding femicide and gender-based violence.

Gender-related killings (femicide/feminicide) are the most brutal and extreme manifestation of violence against women and girls. Defined as an intentional killing with a gender-related motivation, femicide may be driven by stereotyped gender roles, discrimination towards women and girls, unequal power relations between women and men, or harmful social norms. Despite decades of activism from women’s rights organizations as well as growing awareness and action from Member States, the available evidence shows that progress in stopping such violence has been deeply inadequate.

1. Women and girls are most likely to be killed by those closest to them

In 2022, around 48,800 women and girls worldwide were killed by their intimate partners or other family members (including fathers, mothers, uncles and brothers). This means that, on average, more than 133 women or girls are killed every day by someone in their own family. Current and former intimate partners are by far the most likely perpetrators of femicide, accounting for an average of 55 per cent of all intimate partner and family related killings.

2. Femicide is a universal problem

Like all forms of gender-based violence against women and girls, femicide is a problem that affects every country and territory across the globe. According to the new report, in 2022, Africa recorded the largest absolute number of female intimate partner and family related killings with an estimated 20,000 victims; followed by 18,400 in Asia; 7,900 in the Americas; 2,300 in Europe; and 200 in Oceania.

3. The true scale of femicide is likely much higher

While the numbers presented in the report are alarmingly high, they are the tip of the iceberg. Too many victims of femicide still go uncounted: for roughly four in ten intentional murders of women and girls, there is not enough information to identify them as gender-related killings because of national variation in criminal justice recording and investigation practices.

In many cases, only gender related killings perpetrated by an intimate partner or family member are counted as femicides—yet we know that gender-related killings take place in many contexts beyond the private sphere. They can be related to rape or sexual violence by someone unknown to the victim; linked to harmful practices such as female genital mutilation or so-called honor killings; a result of hate crimes linked to sexual orientation or gender identity; or connected with armed conflict, gangs, human trafficking and other forms of organized crime.

Source: UNWomen.Org

Why are men this way? When are women around the world going to collectively do something? Something that is beyond race, culture and class, it's time for this to end, don't let me add child marriage and rape.

Please consider buying a coffee for Lacey’s House efforts in Gender Equality & Children’s Rights.

©️TB Obwoge 2024 All Rights Reserved