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others. Some may even lose income upon closingtheir blogs and websites.Unless women are willing to forgo the internet’seconomic, social, and political opportunities, theycannot walk away from the online environmentwithout paying a high price. This is particularly truefor younger individuals whose lives are inextricablytied to the net, such as Mutoko, who uses her Facebookpage to engage with her fans and the public.According to Jack Balkin’s “captive audience theory”,“employees should not be forced to leave theirjobs to escape otherwise unavoidable harassmentand coercion.” While women working online are notphysically confronted by cyber criminals, they haveno means to avoid online attacks and harassmentagainst them unless they walk away from the networkedenvironment by shutting down blogs andwebsites, changing passwords, etc.Another approach is that rather than playing victim,women should counter online harassment withretaliation. However, a study by Patricia SanchezAbril, “(My)Space of One’s Own: On Privacy andOnline Social Networks”, 11 explains that most often,social networking sites refuse to take down materialthat is purportedly defamatory or embarrassing.Therefore, requesting intermediaries to take downharassing defamatory postings does not alwayswork. In Kenya it is a long and tedious process inthe absence of an intermediary liability policy andregulation. Further, even if the ISP complied andtook down offending material, the material wouldprobably have spread to other sites hosted by otherservice providers. In his “Free Speech and HostileEnvironments”, 12 Balkin notes that even if womencould fight back, they may be unlikely to do so.Some individuals may feel too intimidated to engagein retaliation, as it is not always effective indeterring online harassment and might insteadbe counterproductive. This was seen in Mutoko’scase, where more Facebook pages were created,including a “RIP Caroline Mutoko” page, after sheresponded and asked her followers to address Safaricomdirectly instead of using her wall.ConclusionsNo matter how serious the impact of cyber crimeon women, most of society, including the privateand public sectors, is not taking it seriously. Forexample, user agreements with major ISPs fail toaddress this issue as part of their terms and conditions.In addition, most online media platforms11 scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1058&context=njtip12 www.yale.edu/lawweb/jbalkin/articles/frsphoen.htmin their coverage seem to trivialise it, sometimesbranding the incidences as harmless, targeted atoverly sensitive individuals. This trivialisation ofharm is reminiscent of the many years domestic violencewas downplayed in Kenya. It took the Kenyanwomen’s movement over a decade to get the sexualharassment bill enacted and even then, the ensuingdebate of the bill in parliament trivialised the issuedespite the pervasiveness of the practice.Further, cyber security/crime legal and regulatoryframeworks lack consideration of the socialand gender impact of online crime. Despite severallegal and regulatory provisions, none begin to specificallyaddress online harassment against women.It is therefore not surprising that online violenceagainst women is not yet taken seriously.With access to the internet increasing at an exponentialrate in Kenya (annual growth is estimatedat 11.9%), 13 it is important to address cyber crimeagainst women at this time before the practice becomesentrenched.A key component of addressing cyber crime iseducation and empowerment. Women users shouldbe provided with clear information about theirrights, and directions on how to protect themselvesagainst crimes and how to report incidents in casethey occur.Industry, technical community, civil societyand law enforcement organisations should also beprovided with education to address the issue andshould collaborate to raise awareness, provide solutionsand conduct investigations. In addition, thedevelopment of legal and regulatory provisions thatrecognise the special needs of women can play acritical role in defining cyber crime against womenand in shaping online behaviour, by changing theway online violence against women is perceivedby law enforcement, perpetrators and the broaderpublic. Revision of existing cyber security frameworksto include gender-based online violence isessential, and so is equipping law enforcementagencies and officers with skills and resources toaddress and investigate the complex nature of gender-basedcyber crime.Recognising that online harassment againstwomen is gender discrimination and is also a civilrights violation is important in placing the issue onthe public and policy agenda, to create awarenessabout the gendered harms it leads to, and to changeonline misogynistic culture. This may change onlinebehaviour and deter perpetrators in order to createa safer internet for all.13 www.cck.go.ke/news/2012/Internet_access.html162 / Global Information Society Watch