UN Women: 43% of Women in MENA Experienced Online Harassment

Rabat – UN Women has shared alarming figures on online harassment against women in the MENA region, indicating that one in three women has experienced online violence in the past year.

UN Women‘s new report on online violence and harassment is based on a study conducted in 8 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, Yemen).

Funded by the Japanese government, the study surveyed nearly 11,500 female and male participants residing in the MENA region, with a sample of 1,000 representatives (500 men and 500 women) from each country.

The research was carried out between July 26 and September 2, 2021.

The participants were asked about online violence against women, and according to the data, the most common form of violence is the reception of sexual and explicit images.

“The online space is not secure for women in Arab states,” the report said, adding that more than one in five women who have experienced online violence in the region have deleted or deactivated their social media accounts.

The report outlines that 1 in 3 women have seen online violence move offline, in everyday life outside the digital space; 33% admitted to experiencing both online and offline violence.

Figures indicate that 51% of women experienced online violence from people they knew offline.

Among the most common forms of violence listed by participants, 43% voted for receiving “unwanted images or symbols with sexual content,” while 38% spoke of “annoying phone calls, inappropriate or unwelcome communications.”

The study also revealed that 35% had to deal with “insulting and/or hateful messages” and 22% of women victims of online violence experienced “direct sexual blackmail.”

It found that 49% of the women surveyed admitted to not feeling safe online due to constant harassment.

The report stressed that victims do not feel supported and have a hard time revealing that they are targets of online harassment, with 12% of women saying they experienced domestic violence after reporting the incident to family members.

The study also highlights that 36% of those who have been the victims of online violence were asked to ignore it, while 23% were blamed for it and 21% were asked to delete their social media.

The data also revealed that Facebook is by far the first social media platform where online violence is widely spread. 43% of participants in the study reported experiencing violence on Facebook, while only 16% and 11% admitted to being exposed to violence on Instagram and WhatsApp respectively.

Of the surveyed men who confessed to having committed acts of violence against women online, 24% justified their actions with “because it is their right,” and 23% felt that “it was fun.”

The study shows that more than one in three men aged 18 to 24 surveyed admitted to having committed some form of online violence against women.

Noting that “online violence is a serious threat to women’s physical safety and mental well-being,” the UN Women report called for “considerable efforts” to address the problem in the MENA region.

UN Women concluded its report by citing the example of Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt as countries that “have adapted their penal codes and legislation on sexual harassment and domestic violence to prohibit online violence against women.”