As COVID-19 accelerates digital transformation, is the internet safe for women in the Middle East? · Global Voices
Volunteer women of the HerStory youth-led initiative, which produces and disseminates knowledge about gender equality issues in the Arab region. Photo: UN Women/Emad Karim [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 ].
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced countries into lockdown and quarantine. Trapped at home, many people have turned en masse to the internet to continue their daily routines from shopping, working, and learning to communicating and socializing. It’s likely that it will have a lasting impact well after the pandemic ends.
However, offline gender norms and violence are amplified online, which means that women are less likely to benefit from this digital transformation as much as men. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, online abuse and harassment have been forcing some women to self-censor and disengage from public discourse.
The internet is a double-edged sword. The online world is a reflection of offline realities. New technologies replicate limited environments that women navigate offline. Virtual spaces extend and perpetuate offline inequalities in terms of power dynamics and patriarchal gender norms.
Online abuse that targeted women increased in March 2020 during confinement by 50 percent similar to the surge in domestic violence, according to the office of the eSafety Commissioner in Australia.
Forms of violence against women online
Online violence against women can take different forms, including hateful and offensive comments, physical threats, sexual harassment, stalking, trolling, sharing intimate images without consent, and receiving unsolicited images with sexual content.
Most abuse against women online occurs on major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and YouTube, according to a 2017 Amnesty International report.
In conservative societies where women bear the burden of so-called family honor, the image of a woman made public can have devastating consequences. 803
In Yemen, women fear retribution by their families and therefore rarely show themselves on social media.
<PERSON>, a Yemeni Human rights activist <PERSON> told Global Voices:
There is a strict segregation of sex and men should not see women’s appearance. Women don’t usually post their photos online. If a woman shares intimate photographs in a private conversation — which can be something as mild as a picture showing her face without the full traditional black cover — there is a risk that someone will use it to bully or blackmail her. If known it could ruin her reputation and bring shame to her entire family.
Online violence targets women leaders
Women activists and journalists are particularly targeted online in attempts to intimidate, sow disinformation and discredit their work.
Recently, <PERSON>, a prominent Yemeni human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said that she was subjected to what she described as “widespread bullying” and a “ smear campaign .” The campaign, led by media affiliated with the Saudi government and its supporters on social media , targeted <PERSON> after she was nominated to the Facebook Oversight Board , established by the company to take content moderations for two of its platforms — Facebook and Instagram.
[Thread]1/ This one is on the campaign “Facebook Caliphate”, which is a mostly Saudi-led protest against @TawakkolKarman . What was striking about the hashtag is the number of clearly suspicious accounts tweeting on it. Read on for more #disinformation
— <PERSON> (@marcowenjones) May 17, 2020
According to a global survey conducted in 2018 by International Women’s Media Foundation and Troll-Busters.com, “online attacks have become more visible and coordinated in the past five years, particularly with the rise of nationalism around the world and the use of digital networks to thwart political processes.” The survey concluded that “physical, sexual and online abuse is a part of women journalists’ daily work”:
Online attacks against journalists have become more sophisticated in nature, more insidious in their damage to the news enterprise and more dangerous for journalists, both online and offline.
Women disengage and self-censor
As a result of a hostile online environment, women often self-censor and even withdraw from public discourse. The United Nation’s Human Rights Council identified widespread online violence against women as a significant reason for the global digital divide between men and women .
In Amnesty’s study , a vast majority of women said that they were apprehensive about using the internet after being targeted. Some closed their social media accounts, while others refrained from sharing specific kinds of content.
Palestinian women have also complained about the “surveillance tower ” — familial and social surveillance that monitors and intervenes in online activities and interactions, which results in increased pressure to self-censor.
“Having your parents on Facebook has its effects. 424