CYBER VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS

individual must play in self-regulating, not perpetuating
negative gender norms and practices by sharing, watching
and listening and by holding media and content providers
to account. This is an underlying message of the UNESCO
Global Alliance on Gender and Media. 72
Part of the solution to changing online culture is through
the creation of gender sensitive and friendly content.
This requires moving beyond digital literacy efforts that
teach girls and women how to (safely) consume content,
and moves them to the position of content creators and
active contributors to and shapers of the online world.
Efforts such as Mozilla’s web literacy clubs place an
emphasis not just on privacy and digital citizenship
but also on content creation, coding skills and creating
meaningful impact on the web. Through a partnership
with UN Women a greater emphasis will be placed on
reaching girls and women. Global networks and platforms
like empowerwomen.org and World Pulse also provide
digital literacy skills but also actively work with women
to contribute their voice and perspectives on the web,
including through blogs and campaigns. More womenfriendly
content would drive women online according
to Egyptian high-income women who did not use the
Internet but called for “new websites only for women”
or “dedicated to women,” or women-only chatting.
Somewhat in the same vein, a high-income, university
educated Indian professional who does use the Internet
wanted cybercafés that are open only to women. 73 Safe
access matters too.
4.2.2 Sensitization of the law, courts and
enforcement officers
Strategies, laws and policies must demand a concerted
effort that includes education, awareness raising, and
sensitization and community mobilization. They must
also contribute to tackling discriminatory stereotypes
and attitudes, and they must mandate the research
and knowledge-building necessary to support policy
development. However, having laws in place alone is not
sufficient. In South Africa, for example, VAWG remains
rampant, irrespective of human rights – focused laws
such as the Domestic Violence Act No 116 of 1998 and
Criminal Law (Sexual Offense and Related Matters) Act No
32 of 2007 framed to protect women against all forms of
violence. 74
To effectively combat cyber VAWG, personnel and officials
working in the field must have the skills, capacity and
sensitivity to apply the spirit and letter of the law in a fully
comprehensive manner. This requires that, among others: 75
• Appropriate resources be devoted towards
equipment and technological education of
personnel employed in public institutions, such as
schools and police forces. Individuals, teachers,
parents, police, prosecutors and judges need to
educate themselves about the technology, the
behaviour and the harm inflicted.
• Police forces should be trained, properly resourced
and given the necessary powers to reach out to
victims to ensure all forms of VAWG in varied
settings are recognised, recorded and acted on
expeditiously. Following exhaustive reporting on
the failures of law enforcement at all levels to
comprehend the emotional, professional, and
financial toll of misogynistic online intimidation 76 .
US journalist Amanda Hess concludes: “The
Internet is a global network, but when you pick up
the phone to report an online threat, whether you
are in London or Palm Springs, you end up faceto-face
with a cop who patrols a comparatively
puny jurisdiction. And your cop will probably be
a man: according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice
Statistics, in 2008, only 6.5 percent of state
police officers and 19 percent of FBI agents were
women. And in many locales, police work is still a
largely analog affair as 911 calls are immediately
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