Samburu women have a subordinate position in their society. They are not allowed to own land or other types of property, such as livestock. Women themselves are considered property of their husbands. They can be subject to female genital mutilation, forced marriage with the elders, rape and domestic violence. Since then, a case was brought up against the British military for the rapes of over 1,400 Samburu women. The case was cleared. These women were abandoned by their husbands because they were considered to be "defiled." Other men drove the women out of their houses fearing they would now contract sexually transmitted diseases from their raped wives.