A specialized study has recommended strengthening legal and digital protections for women working in Jordan’s e-commerce and online services sector, in light of alarming findings revealing the prevalence of digital violence and its psychological, social, and economic impacts on women workers.
This comes as part of a study issued by Tamkeen for Legal Aid and Human Rights within the activities of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign, which this year focuses on emerging forms of violence in the digital space and on the gaps revealed through the experiences of women working on digital platforms.
The study highlights the need to develop legislative and institutional protections that keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital landscape. This includes introducing a clear definition of gender-based digital violence within the Cybercrime Law, regulating platform-based work in a way that ensures protection for women workers, and strengthening the responsiveness of national institutions through more effective reporting and support mechanisms. The study further emphasizes that any legislative or institutional reform must be grounded in data that reflects the scale of the issue as revealed by field evidence, and must respond to the real needs of women working in this largely informal sector.
In detail, the study relied on a large-scale field survey that included 822 women workers from various governorates. The participants represented key sectors, most notably: food and homemade products (38.9%), clothing and accessories (25.2%), beauty and personal care (16.7%), page management and digital marketing (5%), and technical support and customer service (4.1%). Tamkeen affirms that this distribution reflects the reality of thousands of women who rely on digital work as a primary or supplementary source of income, amid the limited economic alternatives available to them.
It also shows that digital violence has become a recurring component of the daily work environment. A total of 48.3% of participants which is equivalent to 397 women, reported exposure to at least one form of digital violence while performing their work. The findings also show that a significant proportion experienced more than one type of violence simultaneously, particularly during peak commercial seasons and promotional campaigns. The data also indicates that inappropriate messages or comments are the most common form of digital violence at 55.7%, followed by requests to contact women on their personal phone numbers outside a professional context at 53.4%; highlighting the fragility of boundaries between private life and work within digital spaces.
The study also highlights other forms of digital abuse that are no less harmful, including the theft of photos and commercial content (36%), public abusive comments (31.5%), retaliatory ratings (27.5%), and digital surveillance or continuous monitoring through anonymous accounts (22.7%). In addition, 3% of participants reported receiving direct threats to publish private or intimate images. The study notes that this latter group faces heightened risks due to the nature of the threats and their severe social and psychological repercussions.
Through an analysis of demographic patterns, the study shows that younger women are the most vulnerable. Women aged 18 to 23 recorded the highest rates of exposure to digital violence (56%), which gradually declined to 51% among those aged 24 to 35, 43% among those aged 36 to 55, and 28% among women over the age of 55. The data also reveals that single women experience the highest rates of digital violence at 59%, followed by divorced and widowed women at 53%, and married women at 46%, reflecting the impact of social stereotypes on the level of risk women face in digital spaces.
The educational analysis shows that women with lower levels of education (less than secondary or secondary education) experience digital violence at a rate of 52%, compared to 45% among women holding a diploma or bachelor’s degree. Exposure rates rise further to 57% among those who work online for more than eight hours per day, compared to only 45% among women who work fewer than four hours. The study notes that “time spent online” has itself become a key risk factor, with the likelihood of encountering digital violence increasing as digital presence intensifies.
The study also provides an in-depth examination of the digital ecosystem surrounding women’s work. It finds that 83.5% of participants rely on WhatsApp as their primary communication platform, 57.7% on Facebook, and 32.2% on Instagram, while only 2.8% operate an official online store. The data further shows that 93% of the businesses are not officially registered, 64.3% of women use the same account for both personal and professional purposes, 70.7% have not activated two-factor authentication, 60.5% are unaware of in-platform reporting mechanisms, and 68.5% do not know how to document violations in a legally admissible manner. Additionally, 44.6% are unaware that digital violence is considered a punishable offense under Jordanian law. Taken together, these figures underscore the fragility of digital protection structures at both the personal and institutional levels.
At the psychological level, the study shows that digital violence does not remain confined to the screen. Among those who experienced it, 47.1% reported intense anger, 40.3% reported persistent anxiety, and 24.4% described a clear fear of recurrence. Additionally, 15.6% said their self-confidence declined, while 46.2% acknowledged varying degrees of diminished self-esteem. Socially, the findings reveal that 25.1% of survivors did not disclose their experience to anyone, while 38.5% informed their family, 33% confided in a friend, and only 3.4% reached out to an official entity. The study also notes that 14.8% received blaming or doubting reactions, reinforcing a culture of victim-blaming and weakening the likelihood of reporting.
At the economic level, the study identifies significant repercussions: 44.1% reported that digital violence affected their willingness to continue working, 31% reduced their use of online platforms, and 29.3% lost customers or actual income, whether due to negative ratings or temporary/permanent withdrawal from platforms. The study estimates that the annual economic losses resulting from digital violence against women working in e-commerce exceed 4.2 million Jordanian dinars when projected beyond the sample.
The study places these findings within a broader national and international context. In Jordan, women’s economic participation remains among the lowest in the region, at no more than 14–15%, while unemployment rates among women remain high. This makes digital work an important option for women who face barriers to entering the formal labor market. However, in the absence of regulation and with weak digital protections, this sector—despite its potential as a vehicle for economic empowerment—has become a new space for reproducing marginalization and violence.
Tamkeen argues that the gap between the rapid expansion of the digital economy and the slow development of legislative and institutional frameworks leaves women working on digital platforms in a position of compounded vulnerability. They remain outside the coverage of labor, social security, and social protection laws, while also lacking a clear legal definition of gender-based digital violence. Tamkeen further notes that global platforms’ responses to digital violence remain limited, insufficiently adapted to local contexts, and lacking mechanisms for psychological, social, or legal support; making access to digital justice even more challenging.
The study affirms that addressing this reality requires a comprehensive national approach; one that includes legally recognizing gender-based digital violence, regulating platform-based work, providing safe and context-sensitive reporting mechanisms, launching wide-scale digital safety training programs, and integrating these efforts into national strategies related to women, labor, and social protection. Tamkeen also calls on global technology companies to adopt more committed and responsive policies toward reports submitted by women in Jordan, moving beyond simply disabling abusive accounts to providing effective protection tools.
Tamkeen concludes its statement by emphasizing that digital violence in Jordan is no longer a merely technical challenge; it has become a human rights, economic, and social issue. Protecting women working in digital spaces is an essential part of safeguarding the right to decent work and human dignity. In the context of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign, Tamkeen calls for elevating this issue from a marginal concern to a national priority—so that digital platforms become spaces of empowerment rather than recurring arenas of violence and exclusion.
