Journalists for Christ (JFC) has condemned all forms of tech-facilitated genderbased violence (TFGBV). At a media training which held in Lagos recently, the Project Coordinator, Mr Lekan Otunfodunrin, said the association in conjunction with the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) and Bread for The World-German Protestant Agency For Diaconia and Development have organised the training on TFGBV to sensitise the media and also create awareness about the abuse of women online. Otunfodunrin said that it was fast becoming a trend for females to suffer discrimination online just because of their gender.
He explained that misogyny occurred online too as women are facing hate for no other reason than them being women.
He said freedom of speech on the Internet should not be misused to cause harm to women as misogyny could have life consequences on those who suffer it. He also called on the media to verify information on the Internet so as not to take part in propagating misogyny. “On social media there have been issues of misogyny.
What we have done is to go online, select cases and monitor them. We did a research which is just a sample of what is going on. We are also trying to do some online engagements. “We will get some of the people involved to join in this campaign. Even those that are involved have moved on because they can’t fight back.
There are other people whose lives have been affected permanently because nobody is saying anything. “Unconsciously some of us are misogynistic because we say some things without realising. Sometimes the media amplifies these things without realising.
We need to be more careful,” he said. The Project Officer, Blessing Oladunjoye, said that while carrying out research for the project the researchers gathered about 500 social media posts on Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok. They were able to trim them down to 66 posts that were analysed for the research. She pointed out that skit makers sometimes violated rights of women in their works but people would not readily understand. Oladujoye said:
“We found out that there are different forms of misogyny online. We reviewed posts from 2023 to 2024 and analysed them. Misogyny can be targeted even at prominent people. When Zenith Bank appointed a female CEO, she was a target of misogyny as some comments called her names. “It’s so demeaning and neglecting the efforts she has put into her career to reach that level. It is disturbing.
Women have to work hard to get to the top but some people think that women are not capable. People use a lot of words online that are demeaning. Some words used online re even more hurtful than being physically hit. “After working on our reports we are taking action. We did some social activities. We have a hash tag and we do counter-posts when we see misogynistic posts. We have also been trying to work on the Zenith Bank issue. We are also doing counter narratives online.
There are cases that we can’t see but when we have people on our side who understand this issue, when they see these cases and act then we will be able to change the narrative.” Development journalist and social development advocate, Funmi Falobi, said there was a lot of work to be done to reduce and finally stop gender-based violence both physically and online. She said a lot of sensitisation needed to be done in the society and the family.
“Males usually see themselves as dominant in the home because of the way they are trained. We need to train them to value women and girls and respect them. There is also a need to involve religious and community leaders. These people command respect. They have large followers and have influence as well.
We need them to involve themselves in this fight. When they talk about it people will know that it needs to end. “We need to encourage responsible social media practices and collaborate with institutions to create awareness about misogyny.
We need to carry the media along so that there can be more reports about this issue. “For us to really get the message out we need to go to the grassroots so we are trying to use our local languages to get the message across. We will translate our message so that we can connect with people at the grassroots,” Falobi concluded.
