Centre Hosts Forum to Address Online Gender Violence
By Hadizah Yusuf Musa
INFOMEDIA – Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) coordinated a high-level consultation meeting to address issues of gender and child abuse online.
The zoom meeting which was organized by CITAD in collaboration with Nigeria Internet Governance Forum was the 4th Women Internet Governance Forum held as part of 2022 Internet Governance Forum activities.
The annual event themed “Tackling Gender and Child Abuse Online” is marked by a panel discussion to address the issues related to violence against the gender.
The participants at the forum observed that women are being marginalized in the digital space as young women have suffered and still suffering from different kinds of gender violence in digital spaces.
“Female political aspirants are being abused and castigated on social media based on their gender” a participant added.
Ndukwe Kalu, who was the Keynote Speaker revealed that there is an economic disparity between women and men which hinders women’s access to the Internet.
“Majority of the public take only gender-based violence offline more seriously”. Kalu said that most of the time online violence manifest in physical violence resulting in more women vacating online spaces”.
“Government and CSOs should develop and implement programs that will amplify voices of the marginalized women and girls and quickly develop policy on child protection online.”
Kalu added that stakeholders should provide Trauma Management Support and Digital literacy with online safety skills to be included in the school curriculum.
The meeting resolution was that the government and other relevant stakeholders should do what is needed to stop online gender violence.
Participants of the meeting include Madam Marry Uduma, Coordinator, of the West African Internet Governance Forum who served as the chair, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, Chairperson, of Ndukwe Kalu Foundation, Keynote Speaker and Jan Moolman, Co-Manager and others.
