Women in Development and Peace – Hebah Mohammed
In our current era, technology has become an integral part of our daily lives. Our social interactions take place through the internet and social media platforms. With the advancement of this technology, new harmful phenomena have emerged, posing threats to women’s safety and rights. Digital violence against women has become a serious challenge that requires awareness and serious action.
Through this report, we aim to raise awareness and promote dialogue about this sensitive and important issue. We seek to stimulate collective efforts to combat digital violence against women and provide a safe and equitable digital environment for everyone.
The Danger of Digital Violence against Women
In light of rapid technological advancement, the internet has become another world that harbors hidden threats to women’s safety. Digital violence has become a growing phenomenon that jeopardizes women’s rights and creates an unsafe environment for them in the digital realm. Digital violence encompasses various forms of direct or indirect attacks and harassment targeted at women through electronic communication and technology.
Dr. Nada Khoshafa, a professor of e-administration at Ibb University, explains, “Digital violence against women refers to the use of digital technology and electronic communication to engage in hostile, abusive, embarrassing, intrusive, threatening, harassing, misleading, or privacy-violating acts against women or their digital rights.”
She further states, “Digital violence against women should be understood within the cultural and social context. It can have negative effects on women, exacerbate existing discrimination and sexual violence in society, lead to social isolation, cause negative psychological impact, restrict women’s freedom, and undermine their digital, civil, and political rights.”
Social expert and digital technology researcher Ahmed Sharaf Addin defines digital violence by saying, “We should understand that violence against women in general involves causing harm to them, whether it is psychological or physical. Adding the digital technology factor, which is represented by mobile phones, as a means to perpetrate such harm, takes us to the definition of digital violence. It exploits our conservative societal norms to extort women financially or physically.”
He continues, “There are various means and forms of digital violence, with the simplest being threatening to share a woman’s number among people, resulting in the woman being incessantly bothered by a multitude of calls and messages from unknown numbers. This forces her to change her number and may involve stealing accounts on online platforms to engage in extortion or defamation, engaging in abusive conversations using the owner’s number. Moreover, there is a more dangerous method, which is gaining access to the contents of a woman’s phone, including her secrets and photos. Nowadays, a phone acts as a person’s wallet, storing all their important documents, making them vulnerable to misuse at any time and place.”
Khoshafa also highlights the existence of various forms and types of digital violence against women in Yemeni society, which have recently spread. These include sending unwanted sexual messages or images online, disclosing sensitive personal information or private photos without consent, and spreading rumors or lies about women on the internet with the aim of tarnishing their reputation or causing personal or professional harm.
Hacking Techniques and Security Enhancements
Sharaf Addin says, “To access a woman’s phone files, there are commonly used methods, including hacking the phone through links sent on messaging apps like WhatsApp or links that appear in advertisements while browsing the internet. The visible part of these links appears normal and harmless, but the hacker embeds coding within them. Once clicked, permission is granted to access the phone and download a hidden program that grants the hacker full access to the phone’s contents and the ability to make changes.”
He further explains that a phone can also be hacked by handing it over to an unfamiliar and untrustworthy person for repair or to install specific programs. This person can then copy the phone’s contents to view them later and may be tempted to engage in financial or physical extortion against the phone’s owner. We have heard of many incidents in this regard, including cases of lost or stolen phones where unauthorized access to their contents was obtained.
Sharaf Addin warns women about apps that hide important files with a password. These apps are created by companies to allow users to provide them with their most important files without the hassle of hacking and searching for everything important. The phone’s owner would place all their important files in these apps, and the companies would take a copy to review and potentially sell them.
The Danger of Electronic Blackmail against Women
Regarding the danger of electronic extortion and its psychological, social, and economic consequences, Sharaf Addin says, “The tragedy lies in the psychological, social, and economic repercussions for women. Extortion leads to a sense of fear, which results in constant anxiety throughout the day, leading to the inability to sleep and eat. This, in turn, leads to rapid weight loss and weakened immunity. The victim experiences chronic cold-like symptoms that persist for months because anxiety and stress stimulate the glands to release cortisol hormone.”
He continues, “When the brain detects cortisol hormone in the blood, it suppresses the body’s defenses, making the body susceptible to infectious diseases. If extortion begins and the perpetrator communicates with the victim, demanding financial sums in exchange for not publishing the material, the woman is forced to comply in order to preserve her dignity and honor. She pays him whatever she can, even if it means selling her belongings.”
He explains that if the extortion is carried out and the electronic material of the woman is published, she will face societal punishment, including imprisonment and physical abuse by her own family. In extreme cases, it could even lead to murder, depending on the awareness of the victims’ families.
A Real-life Story of Electronic Blackmail
Ahmed Sharaf Addin shares a true story of a woman who fell victim to fraud and deception at her workplace in a telecommunications company, emphasizing the importance of digital safety for women. He says, “One day, I came across reports of communications that were uncovered by our smart systems. These reports contained suspicious international numbers. It piqued my curiosity, and I wanted to know more. Among these numbers, there was a local number that had called this international number for approximately 13 hours in a single day.”
He continues his narrative, saying, “The duration of the call shocked me, and I felt the need to know the identity of the caller. I dialed the local number without any expectations regarding the identity of the person who made that lengthy call. To my surprise, a woman from a village in Yemen answered without hesitation. I said to her in shock, ‘You were on the phone for about 13 hours yesterday. Did you really talk for that entire duration?'” “The woman confidently replied, ‘Yes, actually, I won $300,000 in a dream contest!’.” Sharaf Addin further explains, “I could not believe what I heard, so I cautiously said to her, ‘Sister, do not believe them. They are scammers; their only objective is to deplete your phone credit. There is no contest or anything.’
But she responded confidently, ‘Do not try to anger me. I sold all my gold in exchange for topping up the credit to participate.’ After verification, it was found that she had made calls worth approximately 400,000 Yemeni rials. This was a significant loss, but our smart system was able to detect and block these suspicious numbers; otherwise, the loss would have been even greater.”
Digital Safety as a Necessity to Confront Digital Violence
Digital safety is an inevitable necessity in facing emerging challenges of digital violence. It involves awareness and knowledge of how to use digital technology in a positive and secure manner, avoiding negative effects on behavior, ethics, and even one’s psychological well-being.
Dr. Ahlam Nasser, a researcher in social issues, says, “Among the important aspects of digital safety is women’s awareness of how to protect their online accounts and avoid falling into the trap of online fraud and fake advertisements. There is also what is known as digital safety for children, which includes educating them and raising their awareness of how to use the internet positively and benefit from it while avoiding negative content that may impact the principles they were raised upon.”
The researcher emphasizes that responsible entities for individuals’ care should promote awareness in society as a whole, with a particular focus on digital awareness in this era. As people spend most of their time in the virtual world or what is known as the internet, the digital transformation we are witnessing requires clear measures to raise women’s awareness of the risks of the digital world and how to protect themselves from them.
Measures to Enhance Awareness about Digital Violence
Ahlam Nasser says, “To enhance awareness and education about digital violence against women, necessary measures and initiatives must be taken through various media outlets such as television, radio, internet, and social media platforms to disseminate information and raise awareness about forms of digital violence and how to deal with it.”
She further explains that websites and digital platforms can be created specifically to combat digital violence against women. These platforms can contain educational resources and information about forms of digital violence against women, protection methods, available support for victims, and the provision of psychological, legal, and social support for women who experience digital violence. It is also important to provide hotlines, counseling centers, and safe havens for women in need of assistance and support.
She emphasizes the need to encourage community participation in combating digital violence against women through organizing workshops, seminars, and interactive lectures that bring together women, men, and the local community to discuss issues of digital violence, exchange experiences, and find solutions.
Regarding initiatives and laws adopted by the state to combat digital violence against women, Sharaf Addin says, “Until now, electronic crimes against women are dealt with through imprisonment, and at the same time, preparations are underway to develop laws that address electronic crimes based on their type and the impact on the victim, but I do not know when the preparation will be completed.”
Recommendations
Dr. Nada Khoshafa presents some practical recommendations to combat digital violence against women. These recommendations include implementing strict laws and legislation that criminalize digital violence against women and punish the perpetrators. The laws should include a clear definition of digital violence and its various forms, such as online sexual harassment, defamation, and digital threats.
She points out the deterioration of the digital reality in Yemen and the spread of violence within it, which necessitates the provision of comprehensive awareness and education programs for both women and men regarding the psychological and social effects of digital violence. These programs should clarify women’s digital rights, how to deal with digital attacks, and provide the necessary support to enhance women’s digital safety. This can be accomplished by providing tools and resources to help women protect their privacy and digital security, offering guidance on setting up secure accounts, activating privacy settings on social media platforms, and avoiding fraud and digital manipulation.
Khoshafa emphasizes the importance of encouraging women’s participation and empowerment in the technology and digital security industry. Providing educational and training opportunities for women in areas such as programming, information security, and digital verification can enable them to defend themselves and raise awareness about digital threats.
She also highlights the significant role that companies and digital platforms in Yemen can play in combating digital violence against women. Companies and platforms should establish strict policies to address harassment and digital threats, review available mechanisms for reporting assaults, and remove harmful content about women.
Short Films as a Means to Confront Digital Violence
Sharaf Addin states, “In the current era, short films are an important means to confront digital violence against women. By intensifying the production of short films, we can clarify the definition of electronic crimes, their impact, and the punishment against the perpetrators. We may find someone engaging in electronic crime without realizing that it is a crime in the first place and that it carries a punishment.”
He continues, “In Yemen, based on the public’s level of comprehension, we see that recorded videos are the best means to raise awareness against these crimes in their various types, methods, and ways to avoid them. Therefore, it is necessary to develop scenarios in collaboration with an expert in electronic crimes, film and disseminate them widely within the community. When these videos spread, they will encourage security authorities to expedite the implementation of laws concerning this field of crimes.”