Intersectional and contextual patterning of online harassment in the context of technology-facilitated gender-based violence: Insights from Kenya

In the modern world, the internet has become a vast public square where people work, learn, trade, and connect with their communities. For many, especially women and people with disabilities, this digital space offers a rare chance to bypass old barriers and participate fully in society. However, just as physical public spaces can be unsafe for certain groups, the digital world has its own dangers. A specific type of harm, known as technology-facilitated gender-based violence, occurs when people use digital tools to harass, control, or abuse others. This violence is not random; it often targets individuals based on who they are, such as their gender, their physical abilities, or their social standing. Understanding how these different factors combine to create risk is crucial, because the solution cannot be one-size-fits-all. If we do not understand exactly who is being targeted and where, we cannot build the right protections to keep them safe while they continue to use the tools that empower them.

Researchers in Kenya recently set out to map these dangers with a high degree of precision. They gathered data from 854 people who were participating in a digital skills program across eleven different counties. These participants were not just random internet users; they were people actively trying to build businesses, learn new skills, or engage in their communities online. The team, led by the African Centre for Technology Studies, asked these individuals if they had experienced online bullying or harassment. They also asked them to describe what happened, how often they used the internet, and whether they felt they knew how to handle an attack if one occurred. By looking at the answers through a lens that considered how gender, disability, age, and location overlap, the researchers hoped to see patterns that simple averages might hide.

The study found that about nine percent of the people surveyed had experienced online harassment. While this might seem like a small number, the real story lies in who was targeted. When the researchers looked at the data more closely, they discovered that women with disabilities faced a significantly higher risk. Nearly sixteen percent of women with disabilities reported being harassed, compared to less than nine percent of women without disabilities. This gap highlights a critical truth: being a woman and having a disability creates a unique vulnerability that is greater than the sum of its parts. The accounts provided by the participants brought these numbers to life. Some described receiving cruel messages after rejecting advances from classmates, while others faced hate speech when they posted about women's rights. For people with disabilities, the abuse was often direct and personal, with attackers using derogatory comments about their physical condition to mock them, even when they were trying to sell goods or services online.

The environment in which people used the internet also played a major role in their safety. The researchers found that people who used the internet every day were more than twice as likely to report harassment as those who used it less frequently. This suggests that the more a person participates in the digital world, the more visible they become to potential attackers. It is not that the internet itself is the problem, but rather that increased engagement opens more doors for interaction, including harmful ones. The study also looked at the types of platforms people used. Those who used websites for their business or community work faced the highest rates of harassment, followed by users of various social media apps. This indicates that the context of the activity matters; using the internet for economic gain or public advocacy can invite different kinds of attacks than casual social use.

Geography, too, shaped the experience of online safety, though not in the way one might expect. The researchers initially noticed that people in semi-arid regions reported higher rates of harassment than those in other areas. However, when they dug deeper, they realized this pattern was driven almost entirely by one specific county, Kilifi. Once Kilifi was removed from the comparison, the difference between the semi-arid regions and the rest of the country disappeared. This finding is important because it shows that broad geographic labels like "arid" or "semi-arid" do not tell the whole story. Instead, local economic conditions and specific community dynamics are what truly matter. In Kilifi, for instance, a tourism-linked economy might create a specific type of online interaction that invites harassment, a nuance that a simple map of climate zones would miss.

Perhaps the most surprising discovery concerned the relationship between knowing how to stay safe and actually being safe. The researchers asked participants if they felt they had the skills to handle online harassment, such as knowing how to block someone or report an incident. They found that people who felt more confident in their digital safety skills were indeed more likely to say they knew how to respond to an attack. However, having these skills did not seem to stop the harassment from happening in the first place. In other words, being prepared to fight back did not make a person less likely to be attacked. This distinction is vital for policymakers and program designers. It means that teaching people how to respond to abuse is necessary, but it is not enough to prevent the abuse from occurring. Prevention requires addressing the root causes of the harassment and the specific contexts that allow it to flourish.

The study concludes that protecting people in the digital world requires a multi-layered approach that recognizes the complexity of their lives. It is not enough to treat all women the same or to assume that all people in a certain region face the same risks. The evidence suggests that programs designed to help people use technology must also include specific training on how to recognize and handle harassment, with special attention given to women with disabilities and those in specific local contexts. Furthermore, knowing how to respond is only half the battle; the systems that people turn to for help, such as police and courts, must be ready to handle these digital crimes effectively. By understanding the specific ways that gender, disability, and local context intersect, society can build digital spaces that are not only open for participation but also safe for everyone who enters them.