Via UN Women -Thanks for sharing, Shanly!
It looks like our project has a much heftier, international sister working towards the same goals. I learned that there is a handy new acronym for cyberviolence against women and girls (cyber vawg). Ok, it is possible that VAWG existed already and I was simply unaware of it...
Moving on now...
The selection of key findings were predictable yet, as always, chilling:
- An estimated 73 per cent of women have already been exposed to, or have experienced, some form of online violence.
- Women in the age range of 18 to 24 are uniquely likely to experience stalking and sexual harassment in addition to physical threats.
- Nine million women in the European Union’s 28 countries alone have experienced online violence as young as 15 years old.
- One in five female Internet users live in countries where harassment and abuse of women online is extremely unlikely to be punished.
- In many countries women are reluctant to report their victimization for fear of social repercussions.
- Cyber VAWG puts a premium on emotional bandwidth, personal and workplace time, financial resources and missed wages.
Emotional bandwidth. That is such a great way to phrase it...
Not a whole lot new about the key recommendations, though that does not mean they aren't super important:
- Sensitization – Preventing cyber VAWG through training, learning, campaigning and community development to promote changes in in social attitudes and behavior.
- Safeguards – Implementing oversight and maintaining a responsible Internet infrastructure through technical solutions and more informed customer care practices
- Sanctions – Develop and uphold laws, regulations and governance mechanisms to deter perpetrators from committing these acts.
The last two S's seem the most interesting- as they seek to find solutions in what we have been calling design hacks and manifestos. Looking forward to reading the whole report, which is available on the UN Women site.