Waiguru wins award, launches campaign against cyberbullying
Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru (in red) receives award from Dr Nyambura Koigi, the Echo Network Africa chairperson, in recognition of her efforts in championing women's leadership.
What you need to know:
- Waiguru was awarded by Echo Network Africa (ENA), an organisation that propels women empowerment agenda.
- This was in recognition of her efforts in championing women's leadership and blazing the trail in the political landscape.
Council of Governors chairperson Anne Waiguru has launched a campaign against cyberbullying as she bagged the Women’s Leadership Award.
She was awarded by Echo Network Africa (ENA), an organisation that collaborates to propel women empowerment agenda. This was in recognition of her efforts in championing women's leadership and blazing the trail for those aiming to take up political positions.
The anti-cyberbullying campaign, dubbed Stop Cyberbullies, is spearheaded by ENA and will run in the next four weeks. It is aimed at creating awareness and mobilising public support towards calling out cyberbullying for the crime that it is and appealing for more action from policymakers in making cyberbullying a costly crime to commit.
Ms Waiguru, who is also the second-term governor of Kirinyaga County, said the campaign launch was a curtain raiser to the International Women’s Day, whose theme is ‘DigitAll: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality’ highlighting the power of technology in helping women overcome various challenges.
“As we launch this campaign today, we would like to speak with one voice and call out cyberbullying for the crime that it is and remind us that we all have a role to play in eliminating it. From a true human perspective, the word cyberbullying does not come close to capturing the severity and lasting impacts for the victims and survivors or convey the links between online and offline experiences of violence,” stressed the governor.
She said she has been a victim of cyberbullying in many instances and more so during her campaigns, observing that though cyberbullying affects both genders, women suffer more than men. She not that many women are cyberbullied for mundane reasons, leading to some of them losing their jobs and others committing suicide.
She cited an African Bank study that revealed that up to 70 per cent of women have endured cyber-violence and that women are 27 times more likely than men to be harassed online.
Negative effects
Ms Waiguru noted that cyberbullying can hinder how women participate in public discourses and processes as many of them will cower, self-censor, and, in some instances, totally withdraw from public, civic and social media spaces.
She pointed out that technology-facilitated violence comprises a spectrum of behaviours, including stalking, bullying, sexual harassment, defamation, hate speech and exploitation, noting that there are just a few interventions that specifically address technology-facilitated GBV and that the ones that exist are mostly small-scale and untested.
The governor said the speed at which access to technologies is rapidly spreading has far outpaced policy efforts of governments and other stakeholders to monitor or control the harmful usage of these gadgets, particularly in developing countries like Kenya, where dealing with cyberbullying is not among the top priorities, even though it is recognised as a problem.
Despite the challenges, Ms Waiguru told women not to be deterred from using technology to advance gender equality and that they must work together to create safe and inclusive digital spaces that empower women and girls to fully participate in all aspects of life.
“Let us courageously continue to use technology to amplify women's voices, connect women to new opportunities and resources, and break down barriers that prevent women from reaching their full potential” she said.
At the same time Ms Waiguru thanked Dr Jeniffer Riria, the CEO of Echo Network Africa, noting that she has worked tirelessly in finding solutions to issues that impact women and girls, including access to education, eradication of harmful socio-cultural norms and opportunities for women leadership and financing.
Hanns Seidel Foundation Kenya and Ethiopia resident representative Daniel Seiberling, who also attended the forum, said that while innovation creates changes and opportunities beyond gender stereotypes, the same has been used against women. He noted that most of the technology had not been created to support gender equality, thus the need to work towards making the digital space safe for all.
