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Nairobi, Kenya - In one of the public markets in Nairobi, women greengrocers face a daily threat of sexual violence from rogue market officials and local men who demand money or sex in exchange for allowing them to operate their stalls.
Josephine Atieno* and Doreen Wanja*, who have been in the business for decades, shared their harrowing experiences with Nation.Africa1, a local media outlet. They said that they have to pay county taxes, market fees, and protection fees for each truck that brings their products from different parts of the country or even from Uganda.
“If you don’t have money, the men will demand to have sex with you to waive the payment. Sometimes they will block the path so that the truck cannot get into the market. Last year, I didn’t have enough money to pay for a couple of trucks that had brought my goods to the market; they tried to rape me,” Wanja said.
She recalled how one of the market officials cornered her into one of the stalls and was about to flip her over when a lorry drove into the market and shone its headlights on them. He had been exposed and quickly ran away.
Wanja added that at times, the officials threaten them with crude weapons such as knives. “I know the young man very well. He is the son of one of the market leaders. He has done this to many women here. We are afraid to report him because he might harm us or our families,” she said.
Atieno said that many of the women traders suffer in silence at the hands of the men who have deep-seated sexist attitudes. She said that they also face harassment from middlemen who connect them to farmers from whom they buy produce.
“Some of them will ask you to sleep with them if you want to get good quality products or better prices. They will also lie to you about the availability or the origin of the products. They will tell you that they are from Uganda when they are actually from Kenya. They are exploiting us,” she said.
The women traders said that they have tried to seek help from the authorities, but they have not received any assistance or protection. They said that they have also formed groups and associations to support each other and to lobby for their rights and interests.
“We want the county government and the national government to intervene and stop this menace. We want to work in peace and dignity. We want to provide for our families and contribute to the economy. We are not asking for favours, we are asking for justice,” Atieno said.
*Names have been changed to protect their identities.
