Around 64 out of 100 women in the country have to face online harassment and violence this year, according to a new study unveiled on Sunday.
The study, commissioned by ActionAid Bangladesh, states that over 63.50 per cent of women respondents reported of facing online violence in 2022, which was 50.19 per cent in the last year.
The findings were revealed in a discussion titled ‘Stop Online Violence Against Women: Challenges and Way Forward’, organised at BRAC Centre Inn, as a part of 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women campaign.
The study was aimed at understanding the rate of prevalence of online violence in the country.
It was conducted through an online survey in six districts - Shatkhira, Sunamganj, Patuakhali, Bandarban, Kurigram, and Lalmonirhat, covering 359 female participants aged between 15 to 35.
The study states that in 2022 women mostly faced online violence on Facebook (47.60 per cent), Messenger (35.37 per cent), Instagram (6.11 per cent), IMO (3.06 per cent), WhatsApp (1.75 per cent), YouTube (1.31 per cent)and on other platforms such as text messaging and video calls 4.80 per cent.
Hateful and offensive sexual comments are ranked the highest among the types of online violence faced by women (80.35 per cent) in the survey for this year, followed by sending sexually explicit pictures to inboxes and asking to have sex (53.28 per cent) and discrimination against women (19.71 per cent).
Furthermore, 11.79 per cent of the respondents said their private photos were posted on social media without their consent and 11.79 per cent received threat of sexual assault.
The study further found out that the most severe impact on women’s life due to online violence is psychological trauma, including depression and anxiety (65.07 per cent).
The study explored that 14.91 per cent of women submitted formal complaints against online violence and more than 85 per cent of sufferers remained silent even though they are harassed online in many ways.
The study further revealed that most women think that the existing complaining mechanisms do not work.
75.77 per cent of women reported they want to complain anonymously through online platforms as they are afraid of social stigma, victim blaming and losing privacy.
Farah Kabir, country director, ActionAid Bangladesh said, “Violence against women is not new and it still exists in various forms. Be it in family, society or state, women are oppressed in every field, and it has various manifestations.
Taslima Yasmin, assistant professor, Faculty of Law, University of Dhaka opined that technical assistance is required in addition to strengthening the legal process to resolve online violence.
Mohammad Saiful Alam Khan, an official of ICT Division said, “Government has set up a Digital Literacy Center for students at school, college, and university level so that they can easily acquire knowledge about digital literacy.
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