By Ayaan Khalif (19 January 2021) Listen to a Somali (Af Soomaali) podcast with the author discussing this article here.
When talking about ‘digital space’, the first thing that comes to mind for many Somalis is social media. Facebook is the single most popular digital platform in Somalia, and Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube are also widely used. Social media platforms are spaces where Somalis in the country and beyond interact, share stories, raise social concerns, and promote their talents and business enterprises. Increased access to smartphones has made it easier for many Somalis to be active users, and increased use of digital technologies is related to growth in ICT investment from Somali diaspora communities worldwide. Many people have returned to the country to contribute to the development of the nation and many initiatives aim at enhancing digital opportunities in Somalia.
Digital Shelter, an organization that I co-founded works to provide safe digital spaces for human rights activists, journalists, and bloggers, and to leverage the power of information and communication technologies for the good of Somalia. We provide online protection tools, and digital skills training in order to enable people to safely participate in digital spaces. This work is essential in Somalia where many people feel that online civic space is shrinking and where activists, journalists, bloggers and other online content creators face various types of obstacles and dangers online. This blog post is based on our organization’s work to advance digital rights, promote digital safety and internet freedom, with a particular focus on women in Somalia and the opportunities and risks that they face participating in Somali digital spaces.
New opportunities for women in digital spaces
As my colleague Abdifatah Hassan Ali explains in another blog post in this series, although online access is rapidly increasing in Somalia, the country still has one of the lowest internet penetration rates in the world. In order to access the internet, people need to have a device like a smartphone and be able to pay for mobile data or access a wifi connection. Therefore, inequalities exist in Somalia in terms of who can access digital spaces, and this is linked to income and class. Although there is currently little reliable Somalia-specific data on how these class-based digital inequalities relate to gender, it seems clear that more and more Somali women are getting online, particularly those from more affluent backgrounds.
Women are using digital spaces in many different ways. For instance, many young girls and teenagers use social media platforms to entertain people and showcase their glamorous profiles and talents. They may become internet sensations or “Instagram celebrities” displaying their beauty and daily lives. They also play an important role in sharing the country’s beautiful nature and scenery, promoting positive stories from Somalia to the world.
Some Somali women on Twitter have hundreds of thousands of followers, which gives them a strong voice in raising awareness about pressing social issues. For example, when the Somali Federal Parliament drafted a controversial new law that would allow young girls to be married once they reached puberty, Somali women on Twitter were among the first to strongly raise their concerns, ultimately catching a more global audience. This would not have happened without the power of social media platforms.
Somali women also use digital platforms to advance and promote their business enterprises. For example, they may use social media to promote make-up and clothing brands that generate revenues for themselves and allow them to provide job opportunities for young people in Somalia. One such story comes from a young lady by the name of Maryan Ahmadey. She is a Mogadishu-based YouTuber, Instagram personality and a renowned make-up artist in Somalia and around the world. She has over half a million followers on her digital platforms. When interviewed about her journey to success, she said that she had spent a great deal of time learning make-up techniques from YouTube videos. In 2016 – when she was starting her make-up YouTube classes – Somalia was facing many challenges. It was not easy for girls to attend school, and Ahmadey’s parents decided that she should stay at home. It was in this period that she found a purpose and passion. She recognized that there was a gap in the beauty sector in Somalia, and a big market that could be exploited. In a short period, she became a well-known make-up artist in Mogadishu through her digital presence. She now has her own brand of beauty make-up. She is also planning to open a make-up school in Mogadishu to teach other young girls in the country. In doing so she seems to have found an opportunity to contribute to the job creation initiatives that the country needs.
Challenges facing Somali women in digital space
Despite opportunities for certain individuals like Maryan, Somali women more generally often encounter many challenges in digital spaces. To explore these issues, Digital Shelter hosted a women-only forum in October 2020 for participants to discuss Somali women’s experiences in digital space, ways to bridge the digital gender divide, and the ongoing digital transformation of Somalia. The forum brought together female intellectuals and activists who held a rich conversation on those issues. Naima Dahir, an Information Systems expert was one of the panelists who comprehensively discussed the issues facing Somali women on digital platforms. She highlighted the increase of gendered-online attacks against women and girls in Somalia. As she put it, “in general, women’s visibility in the digital space is very low compared to that of men, and that is perhaps because of our traditional societal structure which excludes women from other layers of life”. She stated,
“Gender stereotypes that prevail in our communities are often reflected also in online spaces. The internet was supposed to be an equal space for everybody regardless of their gender status, a place that offers a safe and secure environment for women to learn, participate and be productive. But unfortunately, we are being denied this space. …As if that is not enough, women are being constantly attacked in the online space, because of their gender. And in many cases, some have been targeted because of their profession, while others have been attacked due to their fame. It is like the digital space was only made for men.”
Sahra Ahmed Koshin, a Somali researcher and blogger highlighted the ordeals that some Somali women go through on digital platforms. She strongly argued that, despite the opportunities provided by digital platforms like social media for Somali women, women are subjected to higher cyber bullying cases, trolling and harassment in comparison with their male counterparts. She pointed out that, “while all forms of hate speech, trolling and bullying are wrong, one will be surprised to see the disproportionate consequences between men and women in a Somali context. More often than not, the terms and phrases used to lash out against Somali women’s online active presence are more derogatory, offensive, degrading, and more destructive than they are for men”, says Sahra. She further explained that, as a result, many Somali women have ended up bearing the brunt of fake news and rumors often spread by men attempting to taint their online presence/character. For example, fake nude pictures are created with their bodies. Moreover, they are called derogatory names such as ‘bitch’, ‘westernized prostitutes’, and many others. Sahra added that, “Somali women are punished, demonized and criminalized for voicing what they believe in, or for what they share online which in Twitter language is seen as endorsing any of the above. The opposite is true for men”.
Traditionally in Somalia, women have been much less “visible” in political and economic affairs. This is attributed to dominant patriarchal cultural norms in Somali communities. Faduma Abdi Ali, Commissioner of civic engagement with Pan African Youth Union and another participant of our forum, stated that she firmly believes that just like any other sector, the ICT and digital spaces in Somalia are also male-dominated spaces.
Moving forward
Despite all these challenges, there are still opportunities presented by digital platforms. Sahra is hopeful and optimistic that Somali women are finding ways to mitigate harms through their own agency and initiative in digital spaces. She says,
“We are seeing a dramatic shift and change in Somali women. More of them are becoming expressive and unapologetic. Most of these women have large followings on social media, sometimes in the hundreds of thousands. Further, more women are making money online by selling their merchandise, as well as their talent and more recently, their ingenuity. We are seeing more local women who are working alongside women from the diaspora to organize online events, fundraise initiatives and arrange conferences via zoom and other platforms that highlight and recognize each other and their causes”.
Somali women in digital space, their digital skills and their experiences of online harassment are topics that need further in-depth research in order to understand the threats and opportunities that accompany their inclusion and agency in digital spaces. Greater insight is needed into the online experiences of women from different backgrounds and how different women deal with online harassment, cyber bullying, online hate speech other digital risks that Somali women experience daily. This post has focused on the experiences of a relatively affluent segment of women in the Somali population who have access to smartphones and social media. More research is needed into other groups, for example, women with access to fewer resources, those are displaced or live in rural areas. Here we need more data and better understanding of how gender-based inequalities may be preventing these women in Somalia – a large proportion of the population – from getting online in the first place.
Digital platforms offer many opportunities for Somali women, and it is upon the wider society, Somali intellectuals, and all stakeholders in digital spaces to consider how they might help to ensure that women in Somalia have equal access to the opportunities that these platforms can offer.
Ayaan Khalif is the co-founder of Digital Shelter, and a partner in the Datafication and Digital Rights in East Africa Research Network.