Halting the harassment: Online abuse

Cases of online abuse against females have hit an all-time high in recent years. Colette Doyle finds out how the BBC Media Action team in Nepal carried out research into this troubling phenomenon.

young girl looking at her mobile phone

Online access has had a democratising influence across the world, but the rapidly increasing number of internet and social media users has come at a price, and there has been a corresponding rise in cases of online abuse and violence against women and girls. This can take the form of physical threats, stalking, ‘sex trolling’ and sexual harassment, as well as what has become known as Zoom bombing.

In the South Asian nation of Nepal, digital adoption is high: in January this year, there were around 14 million social media users, up by two million since January 2020. Meanwhile, 5,574 online harassment cases were reported to the country’s Cyber Bureau between 2016 and 2020.

With funding support from the British Embassy in Kathmandu, the BBC Media Action team implemented a project called Promoting Gender Equality and Women’s and Girls’ Rights, which ran from last October to this March. It aimed to put in place a robust strategic communication framework to inform the longer-term policy influencing the government’s communication plan on gender equality and issues surrounding female rights.

Anju Bhatt and Manju Gautam, research manager and research officer for Nepal respectively, conducted formative research to understand the current issues facing women in society, including identifying any policy gaps that might hinder equality between men and women.

“Like other female rights issues – such as gender-based violence, intimate partner violence, trafficking, education, and sexual and reproductive health rights – online violence against women stood out as one of the main issues faced by women and girls in Nepal today,” comments Bhatt.

In a blog for BBC Media Action, the researchers explained how they examined online violence against women in detail, and found that such cases are increasing and go underreported most of the time. They concluded that the causes behind the increasing number of online violence incidents have not been explored properly.

Even though the government of Nepal has implemented several initiatives to deal with online violence, the study identified gaps in the existing laws and policies. It found that the approach taken when it comes to dealing with online violence is far from comprehensive. For example, the police might take physical violence seriously, but online violence less so, even though it can often be equally as harmful.

Bhatt recalls conversations with adolescent girls and boys during field research: “We found that students from both private and public schools mentioned having experienced online sexual violence, or knowing someone who had experienced such violence on a variety of social media platforms.” They determined that it is essential to give such topics due prominence to bring about a systematic change in the public mentality, something that requires institutions – such as education, the media, the judiciary and political systems – to be gender sensitive.

A qualitative approach was used for this research, and the researchers spoke to around 100 participants. Focus group discussions were conducted with adolescent girls and boys, as well as with adult men and women, while the key participants included elected representatives, government officials, representatives from civil society organisations, and women’s rights’ activists. Various research articles – published and unpublished – previous research carried out by BBC Media Action, newspaper and magazine articles, plus government acts, policies and plans were all reviewed.

Data collection, management and analysis was led by the BBC Media Action research team. Participants were briefed on the purpose of the research and the interviews. Verbal and written informed consent was sought from them for the discussions and interviews, as well as permission for the conversations to be recorded.

The study findings clearly show how Nepali women and girls continue to face different forms of online violence and discrimination. It is hoped this research will provide a platform for policy-makers to take these issues forward to policy level.

“First, we need public awareness,” notes Bhatt. “People need to understand that it’s real violence that has a real impact, and that sometimes it moves from online to offline.”

The original BBC Media Action blog can be viewed at shorturl.at/rCI17

This article is from the July 2022 edition of Impact magazine. 

We hope you enjoyed this article.
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