RELATABLE: Online abuse against women related to patriarchal norms

SHAH ALAM - It is undeniable that both men and women can both be the victims of online violence but women have the highest tendency to be victims of internet-facilitated violence, and are subjected to new forms of harassment, cyber crime and intimidation.

Content Forum Executive Director Mediha Mahmood was of the view that the matter is related to patriarchal norms.

"We started out with a male dominated society and patriarchy comes from the term role of the father,” she said as a panelist on Sinar Daily’s Relatable programme with the topic "Women & Girls: Abuse in the Digital Sphere”.

This, she said, was where the males are expected to rule as they often make decisions on issues concerning the economic, moral and social decisions.

In such a system, she said the women are expected to obey and go by the rules designed by men not to defy or debate such situations.

"The meekness that leads to people and not just a man who succumbs to the idea of patriarchy but also some women as well,” she further added.

She said that society is now moving towards ‘lesser’ of such situations. If you compare to a few decades ago, traditionally people would things have changed compared to decades ago in which people used to believe that doctors and lawyers and engineers are among the jobs for men.

However, she said that is no longer the case now as society, especially women are now evolving and improving although the progress can be deemed as quite slow.

"We’re not quite there yet but I think we’re heading there,” she opined.