Saturday 19 December 2020

Digital apps empower women against gender discrimination, rape, violence

In their endless fight for his or her simple gender rights and equality, women at the moment are turning to digital era and social media as equipment of engagement against predators, exploiters and nuisance of all stripes and political colour.

The Philippine Commission on Women and the Technological Institute of the Philippines-Quezon City has launched VAWfreePH, a non-public protection cellular app that reviews incidents of violence towards girls (VAW) to the right government.


Launched all through the 2017 18-Day Campaign To End VAW Kick-Off program, the cell app may want to ship SMS to 3 pre-decided on contacts alerting them of the user's genuine area using GPS. When tapped, its SOS button triggers the cellular phone's flashlight and sounds an alarm to draw public interest.

In Australia, Plan International gave young ladies an app via which they mapped sexual harassment hotspots in their towns. Three-quarters of those hotspots had been described as terrible in phrases of the likelihood of experiencing avenue harassment.
The crowdsourced mapping tool allowed Plan International to collect information that become no longer mentioned in crime records and included the lived revel in of harassed younger girls in Australia. Its development became brought on via the need to cope with ladies's protection in public as more human beings move to towns from rural regions. It is projected that tens of millions of younger ladies would be dwelling in towns by 2030 and this kind of mapping app could act as preliminary protection towards the danger of sexual predation.

On its internet site, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has a gallery of apps created through girls for ladies. These apps goal diverse issues affecting women and women round the arena, which includes their empowerment, security, and intercourse training.

For example, rAInbow facilitates victims of home violence to overcome obstacles inclusive of shame, stigma, and sufferer-blaming that could in any other case take years to reconcile. The chatbot is basically an records tool — a associate to folks who couldn't communicate to anybody about what they're going via. It offers early stage intervention for folks who can be experiencing abuse, or what to do if they're. It is accessible to every body 24/7 on Facebook Messenger and available in English.

Another app My Safetipin works in the direction of making cities and spaces safer for ladies and women to transport around with out fear. It collects and crowdsources statistics about belief of safety as well as unique features of the constructed environment with the intention to enhance protection precautions. Many ladies have used the app to percentage their personal reviews in addition to help them navigate their city with extra self belief.


This time of Covid-19 instigated lockdown restrictions and live at home measures has left greater girls at a higher hazard of home violence. With help from the UN Development Program, a cell app named Be Safe has been created for the Western Balkans vicinity to offer SOS to sufferers of violence at domestic.

The loose app triggers an alarm thru text message to a expert aid body of workers this is anticipated to immediately attain out and check how to cope with the said scenario. It also has educational and informative content: at the sufferers' rights and entitlements; useful contacts; and video self-protection tutorials, amongst others.

A preliminary studies study titled "Mobile packages addressing violence towards ladies: a systematic evaluate" sought to evaluate the effect of apps in preventing harassment on ladies.

The evaluate is premised on the framework that VAW is a global fitness trouble presently being addressed by means of a brand new intervention method in cellular apps.

Of the 327 applicable apps around the sector, 171 had been shortlisted for the look at based on 5 predominant useful classes which include emergency aspect, avoidance, education, reporting and evidence building, and supporting apps.

The review concluded that majority of the apps addressing violence in opposition to ladies frequently attracts on one-time emergency or avoidance answers, as opposed to extra preventative techniques. It proposed further research to delve into critical issues regarding facts protection, private protection and efficacy of such cellular apps as fitness intervention tools.

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