CIGI report reveals gender-based online discrimination and the urgent need for safer digital spaces
The Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) conducted a research at the 12th RightsCon event in Costa Rica, investigating the online experiences and possible threats of 18,000 respondents from 18 countries.
Research issued on 8 June by the Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) was interpreted at the 12th RightsCon event in Costa Rica, stating that the most prevalent online discrimination against persons is based on gender inequalities. The research, titled ‘Supporting Safer Digital Spaces‘, gathered and investigated the online experiences and possible threats of 18,000 respondents from 18 countries, including women and LGBTQ+ people. Ipsos, a multinational market research company, examined the countries with Canada’s International Center for Research Development support.
According to the report, nearly 60% of respondents had experienced some form of online harm, with 25% being targeted because of their gender identity, 30% of transgender or gender-differing respondents who had experienced online damage having severe mental health effects including the reduced desire to live, 30% of women reporting a negative impact on mental health, and 23% experiencing restrictions on free engagement online after suffering harm, and even 40% of participants experiencing conditions on free engagement online after suffering damage.
The report’s primary author, CIGI Senior Fellow Suzie Dunn, emphasizes that violent conduct causes actual harm in both physical and digital environments and that there is little help accessible to individuals, and it contains 87 proposals to combat technology-induced violence.