2 hours 32 minutes and 14 seconds. That’s how long it took Rebecca Cheptegei, a 33-year-old Ugandan long-distance runner, to finish the Olympic Marathon at the Paris Olympics. Cheptegei finished in place No. 44, a major highlight of her athletic career. However, just three weeks later, on Sept. 1, her bright life would come to a disturbing end outside of her home in Kenya.
Cheptegei’s life was taken brutally, reports stating she was set on fire by an ex-boyfriend. What started as a peaceful Sunday morning, attending church with her two daughters, turned into a horrifying display of violence when she arrived back home. Sources claim Cheptegei and the suspect had been in dispute over a piece of land and were seen fighting outside her residence before her life was taken.
Not only a decorated athlete and mother, Cheptegei was also a member of the Ugandan army. Her military funeral this past Saturday included a gun salute befit for her rank as a sergeant. Her family and thousands of other mourners attended her funeral and delivered eulogies in a sports field nearby.
Cheptegei’s story, one which has been amplified due to her recent success and notoriety, is merely one of thousands just like it. Violence against women, particularly at the hands of a partner, is a serious problem not only within Kenya but across the world. Almost one in three women have endured physical or sexual intimate partner or non-partner violence at least once in their life.
Gender-based violence manifests in forms other than physical and sexual abuse, including psychological, emotional, and financial abuse or threats of abuse as well. What’s more, recent data has shown that since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, all kinds of violence against women, particularly domestic violence, have increased. This is due to various factors including but not limited to economic instability, being isolated with abusers, and confined living conditions.
The fight to address this growing threat is a laborious one. Countless efforts, including public service announcements, celebrity endorsements, and the establishment of women’s rights movements and organizations, have brought important attention to this grave issue. However, it’s a larger shift in collective thought and attitude towards women that many believe is necessary.
How to help?
Everyday practices such as identifying and stopping others or oneself from using sexist language or making derogatory jokes, reporting images or messages that exploit women, and practicing consent are some of the more tangible efforts one can make to help combat gender-based violence.
Other efforts involve more behind-the-scenes work, encouraging a reframing of how one thinks about gender-based violence and women more generally. This includes educating oneself on the root causes of violence, being critical of and questioning how women are portrayed in and stereotyped by society, reflecting on one’s personal biases or beliefs, and stopping oneself from victim blaming.
Rebecca Cheptegi’s life was one filled with love, light, and athletic excellence. Her loss is a painful reminder of just how critical work against gender-based violence remains. May her legacy endure and the rest of the world never forget her story, the stories like hers that remain untold, and the battle that must be fought to prevent more like them.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic abuse, call 911 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1(800) 799-SAFE (7233) or visit thehotline.org