From Cyriacus Nnaji, Lagos
Journalists for Christ International Outreach, a not-for-profit organization, has sensitized the public on dangers of misogyny and Tech-facilitated gender-based violence
The group who gathered at the International Press Centre IPC) Ogba-Ikeja on February 7, 2025, also sought the involvement of experienced journalists from reputable media outfits to help in the fight against Misogyny and Tech-facilitated gender violence.
The crux of the matter is the use of abusive language or any activity on the internet, Facebook, X, Instagram, Linkedin, Whatsapp or any other social media handle that is targeted against women, and Journalists for Christ have come out to sensitise the public and social media users against it.
Journalists for Christ poised to eradicate gender-based violence in Nigeria under the #EndmisogynyNG is calling the public to join hands to end Misogyny and Tech-facilitated Gender-based Violence.
#EndmisogynyNG is the advocacy /Campaign theme on the project titled, “Countering Misogyny and Tech-facilitated Gender Violence”, implemented by JFC Nigeria, they are also calling for respect for women, value for women, and support for women’s contributions to society.
Mr Lekan Otufodunrin, President of Journalists for Christ and Coordinator of the project while speaking to his colleagues said that there is need to raise awareness, adding that some people are not conscious that what they are doing is damaging, “We need to raise awareness, we need to explain why this things ought to stop, we need to make people understand what they can do better, why they should not abuse those platforms.”
On the question of whether the organization is considering legal action against those who are involved in misogyny, he responded saying “Misogyny is bullying, under cybercrime which is classified as criminal act, but we don’t want anybody to go to jail because of that, that is why awareness is important, let people know that what they are doing can also become criminal.
“They should be very careful and they should also remember that they are dealing with people like them and should not do anything capable of destroying their fellow human beings,” he appealed.
Speaking on the duration of the campaign Otufodunrin disclosed that the campaign was designed for one year but with window for extension. “But we hope to continue, all the advocacy, share all the documents, visit media houses, online, do a lot of campaign, but more importantly let people know that this things have implications. Some people are just catching fun but they don’t know the implication of what they are doing.”
Blessing Oladunjoye, a Journalist and a Project Officer for the project said, “We are basically journalists, to discuss the issue of online violence, we realized that gender-based violence has gone digital, some people think because they have access to phone, access to data they feel they can demean or harass and insult women online, so we are saying this is wrong. We see people coming online involving in cyberbullyiing and a whole lot of things which affect women, in the sense that it affects women online, women in politics, women in business, women in entertainment, it affects their career.”
She implored members of the society and those making use of online platforms to desist from misogyny. She also seek collaborations with journalists to make this happen. “We want people and members of the society to know that whatever you do online, don’t harass women, don insult women, don’t violet the rights of women just because you have access to digital devices. It is part of the reasons we involved media professionals, let’s spread the information out there so as to ensure that people do not harass women online or violet women online. Every form of gender-based violence online should stop.”
Answering the question on the rate of misogyny especially in Nigeria, she stated that the group did a monitoring exercise. “We have done a social media monitoring, and we checked how many people are harassing women online, how many people are involved in gender-based violence that is done online, not that it is not done offline, no. we realized that it is rising, it is really increasing. I don’t need to give statistics, because as I said, we are at the very front of organisations doing this, reporting gender based violence online in Nigeria.
“I can’t say this is the specific figure but the trend is really increasing and we are telling people once you see something like this, don’t keep quiet, don’t laugh about it, don’t share, it is a fellow human and a woman whose right is being violated, whose individual person is being affected, just ensure that you speak against it, anyway you can counter the narrative, you should do that,” she asserted.
