The Kenya Women Parliamentary Association (KEWOPA) has signed a deal with Google to safeguard them from cyberbullying. The tech giant will equip the women politicians with online safety tools to mitigate the impact of online trolls.
The partnership will see the female legislators equipped with digital safety measures to protect them from online harassment, particularly on Twitter. This will be done using Google’s newly launched free web tool dubbed ‘Harassment Manager’ that detects toxic and harmful comments by reviewing tweets based on hashtags, usernames, keywords and dates.
The tool will automatically block harassment perpetrators and hide demeaning replies to tweets.
Read: Google Partners with Female Legislators to Improve Digital Literacy Among Girls and Women
According to Google’s Eastern Africa Country Director Agnes Gathaiya, the current female members of parliament and aspirants will further receive training through a program dubbed #IamRemarkable. The goal of the program is to empower women to come out and break down societal and cultural barriers.
“Google is deeply concerned about gender equity and diversity. Through our collaboration, we are able to make programmes such as #IamRemarkable and Digital Skills for Women contribute to restoring the gender gap in social and economic opportunity,” Gathaiya said.
Read also: Google Commits Sh100 million to Enhance Access to Justice
Kiambu Woman Representative and KEWOPA Chairperson Gathoni Wamuchomba lauded the initiative saying that violence and online bullying were serious matters.
As part of initiatives to combat gender-based antagonism targeting female legislators, the program will incorporate art, culture, and media to promote good social transformation.
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