Research commissioned by the eSafety Commissioner has found that one in three women experience online abuse in their working lives.
The Report, Women In The Spotlight: Women’s experiences with online abuse in their working lives, was commissioned by the eSafety Commissioner to survey the experiences of women who had a strong online or media presence for professional purposes.
eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant described it as ‘troubling’ that 35 per cent of the women surveyed experienced some form of online abuse in a professional context.
Ms Inman Grant said the incidence was higher among younger women (43 per cent), women with disability (57 per cent) and those who identified as LGBTIQ+ (51 per cent).
“Women felt most of the online vitriol they received was gendered with the perpetrators focusing on their gender, their physical appearance and their role as a working mother,” Ms Inman Grant said.
“Women were also targeted with online abuse over their age, race, sexual orientation, having a disability or taking a stand on an issue,” she said.
The Commissioner said widespread abuse of women across online platforms had serious career consequences, with many women taking a backwards step professionally.
“Online abuse can be devastating, with women in the study experiencing severe impacts on their mental health, loss of confidence in their ability to do their job, concerns for their safety and the safety of their families, and of reputational damage,” she said.
Ms Inman Grant said the study found most abuse occurred on social media, including Facebook (62 per cent), Instagram (26 per cent), Twitter (18 per cent) and LinkedIn (14 per cent).
She said abuse also occurred on personal email (21 per cent) and work email (15 per cent), followed by SMS (16 per cent) and chat apps (13 per cent).
She said about half of the women who experienced online abuse said that the abuse was perpetrated by strangers, typically through unwanted private messages and negative comments.
The 68-page commissioned Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
