International Women's Day: Eight moments that make it the Year of the Woman

A Full Stop to Bus Stop Violence

AFP – A woman takes part in a rally to protest against violence towards women, on November 17, 2014, in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

On 19 July 2017, three men were sentenced to death for robbing, stripping, and sexually assaulting a female passenger for wearing a miniskirt at a public bus stop in Kenya's Githurai district. The case ruling was momentous for women not only in Kenya but across Africa.

This was one of two landmark cases involving the sexual assault and violent robbery of women on public transport, in a country where women make up the majority of commuters.

For many Kenyan women, like Naomi Mwaura, a reproductive health and gender rights activist who helped organise the protest, this ruling was significant:

"This ruling is the strong message needed to criminalise violence against women and reaffirm the rights of women to live free of violence in public spaces, especially the transport industry."

Three years earlier, in November 2014, hundreds of people gathered on the Nairobi streets for a historic march protesting sexual violence against women in the capital.

The march was sparked by a video of the attack that surfaced online, leading to the birth of the #MyDressMyChoice movement, which went on to influence the court's decision and became a global movement.

Kenya's court ruling sent a clear message to the rest of Africa that women’s rights are not to be tampered with.

"I feel honoured to have supported the cause," said Ms Mwaura, who helped organise the protest, "and most importantly, to see justice in my lifetime."

Reporting by Abigail Ony Nwaohuocha, Africa Women's Affairs Journalist