Asean and gendered violence in cyberspace

Rapid digitalisation has enforced a new way of life – one that heavily relies on the internet. However, there is still limited literature discussing how internet interconnectedness has negatively impacted society, particularly literature that explores social media-triggered online violence that is examined through a gender-sensitive lens. Furthermore, a look into the academic literature on online gender-based violence (GBV) in the Southeast Asia points at a research lacuna waiting to be filled. This is to further the previous research done by Swe (2019); Jatmiko, et al. (2020); Sey (2020) and Dlamini (2021). To fill the gap, this chapter offers an in-depth, albeit regional-scale, review and analysis on online GBV in Southeast Asian countries with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic to show the current status quo and urgency to pay attention to the growing issue. This chapter applies the three-pillar framework proposed by Millar (2021) on Design, Defence and Response for a more gender-sensitive cybersecurity. It finds that there is a need to make the technology sector more inclusive, and that better regulations are necessary to provide protection for women and other sexual and gender minorities.

Num Pages: 18