Internet Creator Concerned about Harm Facing Women
World Wide Web Creator, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, expressed his concern regarding the usage of internet to spread hate towards women.
On the website of the foundation he founded (World Wide Web Foundation), Sir Tim Berners-Lee expressed his worries about online harms facing women and girls “especially those of colour, from LGBTQ+ communities and other marginalised groups.” The Internet creator highlighted the three main concerns he wanted the world to work upon:
Women not being as connected to the internet world wide
It is largely because women can’t afford it, and don’t have access to the technology they need. Neither do many of them have the skills to use such. Men are 21% more likely to be online than women, raising the number to 52% in the world’s least developed countries. This gap strengthens existing inequalities and curtails millions from using the web to learn, earn and make their voice heard.
Women experiencing violence online
In a new research by the Web Foundation and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, it was found that over half of young women surveyed have experienced violence online. This included being sexually harassed, sent threatening messages or having their private images shared without consent. 84% of them think the problem is getting worse. An example of this was portrayed in the 2011 movie, Cyberbully.
This form of abuse forces women out of jobs and leads girls to skip school. Furthermore, it damages relationships and leads to extreme distress. Relentless harassment silences women and deprives the world of their opinions and ideas – many female journalists and politicians get pushed off social media and bullied out of office. It also risks the huge opportunities that digital technology offers. The World Wide Web creator shared in his letter:
“A young woman from a technology skills centre I visited in Nigeria runs a catering business on social media. The same platform that allows her to reach customers also exposes her to daily bombardment of sexual harassment from strangers.”
Women facing discrimination from within the systems
An example of this would be when a major automated recruitment tool had to be scrapped in 2018 because it systematically under-selected women. This was because it was trained on historical data where roles were filled by men. Many companies are working hard to reduce such discrimination.
However, unless they devote their resources and diversify teams to remove bias, they risk expanding discrimination at a speed and scale never seen before. Despite the growing crisis of gender inequality online, action by governments and companies has been too slow and too small.
The recent pandemic, COVID-19, highlights how rapidly we need to tackle this issue. When offices and schools close, internet is what allows us to keep working, educating the children and reading information needed to keep us safe and healthy. A world where so many women and girls are not receiving these fundamental resources is absolutely unacceptable.
This issue was also recently highlighted by the Economist’s Intelligence Unit.
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