Cyber violence against women is now a major issue, MEP Walsh warns
Midlands-North-West MEP Maria Walsh held a constructive and informative round-table event on cyber violence today.
MEP Walsh, a member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), has been appointed to work on combating gender based violence: Cyber Violence File.
This file will examine the potential actions EU institutions could take to progress and tackle this growing issue from an EU perspective.
The area of cyber violence against women is very topical at the moment.
Just last weekend we heard the story of a Limerick based Independent Councillor, Elisa O’Donovan and the pornographic content she had received online.
That came just after former Senator Lorraine Higgins said she has left politics because of the constant abuse she had suffered.
Tom Felle, Head of Journalism and Communication at NUIG, presented his research on the incredible amount of online abuse experienced by women in the public eye.
Speaking after the round-table, MEP Walsh said: ‘This isn’t just an issue for women in public positions. Many women have experienced cyber violence.
"The clear and striking gendered aspect of cyberviolence must be recognised legislatively.
"More women and girls are experiencing harassment, stalking, doxing, image-based sexual harassment and many other forms of online violence.
"With the prevalence of social media, particularly over the course of the pandemic, online threats to women and girls are having a very clear effect. Incidents of gender-based cyber violence do not always happen in isolation.
"In some cases there is a direct connection between experiences of online and offline violence.”
MEP Walsh continued: “The WhatsApp scandal last year, where links to almost 500,000 chats were found to be accessible through Google - even those intended to be private, was a horrible reminder of how women are too often targeted and effected by different forms of cyber violence.
"It showed how we urgently need to rethink why something that would be considered a crime offline, would not be considered one online.
"We have made a huge step forward on a national level with Minister McEntee introducing CoCo’s law at the end of last year and the more recent development with the online hate speech legislation.
"We have a lot of work to do to ensure that these issues are given the full attention they deserve under the law.”
At today’s round-table Fine Gael T.D. Dr. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill presented an overview of the situation at national level, with the floor then opened for an audience discussion, which gave an opportunity for those working in this area to speak about the issues they face and how collectively we can best tackle the issue.
Among the groups involved in today’s discussion were IASW, SAOL, Maynooth Students’ Union, GMIT Students’ Union, CyberSafeKids, Young Fine Gael; FG Women’s Network, AITSU, University College Dublin, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, SiSi (Survivors Informing Services and Institutions CLG), Longford Women's Link; Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), Women's Aid, Stop the Bully Ireland & Munster Martial Arts Ito Ireland, National Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre; Dublin City University, Women for Election, IADTSU, Frontline Ventures, Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and St. Angela's College Students' Union.
In her role as an MEP, Maria Walsh intends to bridge the gap between the work done in the European Parliament and what is happening on the national stage.
By bringing the EU issues encountered in her work directly to those organisations engaged nationally, MEP Walsh will ensure that Irish issues shape our future EU policy.