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Kirinyaga Governor Ann Waiguru has today launched the #stopcyberbullying campaign in Nairobi which aims at bringing to an end harassment on women and girls on social media.
Speaking during the launch and marking the international Women’s Day, Waiguru stated that online space and information revolutions has brought numerous opportunities especially for women leaders to gain visibility and networking platforms, this has made communication easy within a borderless world.
“Let me applaud Echo Network Africa and Dr. Jennifer Riria for this auspicious moment. Daktari, you have worked tirelessly in finding solutions to the issues women and girls are impacted by and providing sustainable solutions such as improved access to education, eradicating negative sociocultural norms, opportunities for women leadership and financing. In today’s International Women’s Day, we come together to celebrate the achievements of women across the world and to acknowledge the challenges that we still face,” Waiguru stated.
According to a research by African Development Bank suggests that up to 70 per cent of women have endured cyberviolence and that women are 27 times more likely than men to be harassed online.
“Technology-facilitated violence comprises a spectrum of behaviors, including stalking, bullying, sexual harassment, defamation, hate speech and exploitation. There should be large scale and tested intervention for cyberbullying,” she added.
The event also hosted a panel discussion to better have an understanding of the nature and pattern of women leaders in Kenya and to make recommendations on how to better ensure their own online safety through existing mechanism, personal responsibility including online etiquette.
The panel brought together verse individuals to deliberate towards the objective of promoting women’s safety by making recommendations that would promote women’s online safety.
Echo Network also awarded veteran content creator, Lynn Ngugi the Gender Justice Award for her contribution to promoting women’s online safety.
