Creating Safe Online Spaces for Women: Policy Brief

The policy brief aims to understand the nature of cyber harassment and the existing policy gaps. The study took an observation method where the researchers observed the Twitter environment over four months. Case studies were picked out of the hashtags and classified into themes.

A key finding is that Kenya has good policies, but the lack of impact of such policies is the problem. Some laws, for example, cover issues such as "revenge porn", sharing of private messages, and defamation, among others. The problem then stems from the perception of the internet as a luxury where one can opt out when things get unpleasant; law enforcement does not take reports of cyber harassment as seriously as they should.

It also revealed that both men and women are victims of cyber harassment. However, it highlighted some differences: women face more cyber harassment than men, and the nature of such harassment is harsher as it focuses on social issues, ranging from body shaming to questioning their career suitability and qualifications.

The fact that Kenya has good policies to deal with online gender-based violence indicates that cyber harassment is not stopped by law but rather by a narrative change.

The policy–brief recommended bringing more women into these spaces to challenge and change the narrative, for example, suggesting that media organisations should support female journalists in information and communications technology (ICT) reporting and other male-dominated fields. It also called for creating online reporting and support platforms as a more direct approach to online harassment.