A WEB OF HATE
RISE OF ONLINE ABUSE AGAINST WOMEN
NEW figures have revealed that nearly a quarter of women have received online harassment at least once - and 66% of women from the UK said it made them feel powerless.
This year Amnesty International commissioned an IPSOS MORI poll to sample women’s recollections of online abuse and harassment in eight countries, including the UK.
Other countries included the USA, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Poland and Denmark - totalling 4,009 women aged between 18 and 55.
Of those, 914 women - or 22% - reported experiencing online abuse or harassment on a total of 1,687 occasions.
Some 525 women reported online abuse and harassment on Facebook - and a further 211 reported experiencing the same from Facebook Messenger.
Meanwhile, 95 women said they’d experienced online abuse and harassment on Instagram - while 77 had the same experience while using Whatsapp.
Globally, Facebook has the most users - at nearly 2bn - which may be a reason why reports of abuse are higher than on other social media platforms.
There were also 117 women who’d had abusive messages sent to their private or work email address.
The most common type of harassment experienced by women was abusive messages - in 570 instances - followed by sexist or misogynistic comments directed at them - in 418 cases. Direct and indirect physical or sexual violence threats were experienced by 236 women. Homophobic or transphobic language accounted for 67 cases of online abuse and harassment against women. From those surveyed, 377 felt their physical safety had been threatened on one or more occasions - and 504 women experienced panic attacks, anxiety or stress as a result of the online harassment. America had the highest number of women reporting abuse - in 167 cases. This was followed by Sweden where there were 148 women, and New Zealand where there were 143.
There were 106 women from the UK who said they’d experienced some form online abuse or harassment.
Some 66% of the women in the UK - or 70 in total - said they felt a feeling of powerlessness in their ability to respond to the abuse or harassment.
Facebook said it was doubling the team working on security to help develop more tools and resources.
A spokesperson said: “Earlier this year, we launched a dedicated safety guide with advice for women and girls on the risks and tools needed to protect themselves and stay safe on social media.” Azmina Dhrodia, technology and human rights researcher from Amnesty International, said: “The widespread inequality and discrimination against women offline is increasingly being replicated online. “Acts of violence and abuse against women online are simply an extension of these acts offline. Social media companies have a responsibility to respect human rights and this means ensuring that the women who use their platforms are able to do so equally, freely and without fear.”