Featured Image Description: Illustration of five women and a child that aims to display the kinds of online gender-based violence that women face on a daily basis. One woman can be seen sitting on a desktop, another is holding a phone and has a raised fist to portray how informed choices can make them feel empowered. The third woman is confused with a ringing telephone on her side. The fourth woman and her child can be seen peeping into a mobile phone. The fifth woman can also be seen holding a smartphone in her hand and looks focused and relieved.
In the middle of the illustration, there are several screens, mobile phones and laptops saying in clockwise order, “Make the Internet Safe,” “Stop Gender-Based violence,” “Say no to online bullying,” “Online harassment is a crime,” “Online impersonation is a crime,” “Call Us #TechSakhi,” “Call TechSakhi for help,” and “Cyber Flashing.”
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By Shohini Banerjee
In the last few years, there has been an uptake in adoption of the mobile internet across India in increasingly non-traditional ways like the use of voice search, video content for learning and preference of regional languages. However, there is a stark gender gap with 30 percent of women having access to mobile internet compared to men (51 percent). In fact, the issue of access originates with mobile ownership; only 67 percent of women own any type of phone compared to 79 percent of men. While there has been an increase in women’s access to the digital world, social acceptability has largely been due to the need for internet-enabled devices for their children’s online education.
Women accessing opportunities outside the realm of this social acceptability sometimes operate out of hesitation as was the experience of Naisha. She decided to seek online employment. She came across a platform where she was required to pay a registration fee that promised daily pay for remote work. After an initial cycle of receiving some payment from the job platform, she was asked to pay a large sum of money for a subsequent cycle; this time, she did not receive any return in the money. When there was no response despite repeated follow-ups, she realised that she had been defrauded. However, she chose not to seek help from her partner, fearing rebuke or worse, violence.
She turned to TechSakhi, an informational helpline supporting gender and sexual minorities on digital safety and security issues. She received technical guidance on how to register a complaint with the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal as well as her bank. The TechSakhi responder walked her through the process of finding her closest bank branch and on how to prepare a complaint to be able to retrieve her money. Naisha was not only provided step-by-step guidance but also a confidential space to discuss her fear of violence and financial loss, an empathetic ear and encouragement to take subsequent steps.
Women users are often less likely than their male counterparts to explore digital spaces. This is exacerbated by the prevalence of different types of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TfGBV), which increased during COVID-19. Women therefore tend to limit their communication in digital spaces only with people they know. Feroza defied this trend and started chatting with a man on a popular social media platform.
When they got acquainted, they met in-person once after which Feroza chose not to engage with him further. The man resorted to blackmail by threatening to share her chats and photos with her partner and friends, if she didn’t speak to him every day. Gendered cultural norms expect women like Feroza to abstain from social engagement with unknown persons and therefore, disclosure of such activities can evoke fear in users that their ownership or usage could be limited or worse, lead to violence. Knowing this, the man emotionally abused her over the phone which started to take a toll on her mental well-being.
She sought help from TechSakhi where a responder emphasised that Feroza was not responsible for the violence she was experiencing; self-blame is a common trauma response of survivors of TfGBV. The responder provided information on local and community based women’s support organisations as well as a lawyer’s collective to ensure that she has access to a robust support system. TechSakhi’s responder also talked her through the possible consequences of next steps to help Feroza take an informed decision on what to do next, encouraging her to take time to consider her choices, if needed.
Common forms of TfGBV include harassing phone calls, non-consensual distribution of intimate images, and online sexual harassment. However, there are increasing overlaps of gendered harm and violence with other forms of cyber crime. While India has a fast-growing population using financial services in the digital space, there is a 73 percent gap between men and women who own a mobile money account. Preeti is one among the small percentage of women who was able to access financial services, however she experienced financial fraud at the convergence of TfGBV Preeti came across an instant loan app where she was required to upload a selfie to officially register.
While she received a loan, a day before the deadline for repayment, a representative of the instant loan app company called stating that her selfie would be morphed with a picture from her social media accounts’ to create and share sexually explicit images of her with her contacts. The blackmail and harassment continued even after the loan was repaid. Searching for assistance, Preeti came across TechSakhi. The responder provided support to Preeti, explaining a growing trend of blackmail and threats of morphing among instant loan applications. She received information for a women’s helpline, a lawyer’s collective and a step-by-step walkthrough of the process of filing a complaint on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. The TechSakhi responder also shared information on how the blackmailers could be reported on the chat platform that was being used.
There are more than 658 million internet users in India as of January, 2022. For users from gender and sexual minorities, participation in digital spaces is often marred with barriers, risks, harms and violence, even in casual and mundane day-to-day interactions. Such experiences can lead to limiting participation or self-censorship, curtailing opportunities and violating their right to safety, expression and fundamental freedom. The callers of TechSakhi demonstrate that TfGBV is neither linear nor limited to one platform or practice and the need to create a safer feminist internet remains a priority. On Safer Internet Day 2023, TechSakhi reaffirms its commitment to address the experiences of violence and harm that appear in the everyday lives of women, girls, trans, non binary and queer people.
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Shohini is the co-lead and advisor for TechSakhi at Point of View. She has previously worked with various organisations on gender-based violence prevention and response programs.
Featured image credit: Parth Pawar
