The Critical Role of School Environment in Preventing Online Gender-Based Violence

Abstract

Data from the UN Women for the Asia Pacific region in 2021 showed that more than 88% of women in this region had experienced violence in cyberspace. UN Women also claimed that there has been an increase in cases of Online Gender Based Violence (OBGV) during the COVID-19 pandemic due to internet usage, which increased dramatically when countries imposed lockdown policies. We argue that OBGV is preventable by using various approaches and involving different actors simultaneously. In this case, we argue that the school environment plays a critical role in preventing gender-based violence, including OBGV. This research was based on community service activities that were carried out in one of the senior high schools in the Riau province. From these activities, we observed that understanding of gender and gender-based violence in schools is low in spite of this concept being the basis for understanding how to prevent gender-based violence in any form. We recommend that schools adopt interventions that include the whole school community, from students, teachers, staff, student organizations, and parent-teacher associations. The school-based interventions can range from developing proactive policies and strategies to educating on internet security. Keywords: gender based violence (GBV); online GBV; gender inequality; school-based intervention