The use of cyber space and its attendant features of anonymity continue to influence both
positively and negatively on social, economic, cultural, and political aspects of every
society. Nevertheless, while the cyberspace  have provided secure tools and spaces where
women can enjoy their freedom of expression, information and privacy of communication, the
same benefits of anonymity and privacy also extend to those who employ ICTs for criminal
activities and use the Internet to commit violence against women.  The use of mobile phones
and Internet to stalk, abuse, traffic, intimidate and humiliate women is palpable in developing
countries including Kenya. The lack of specific cybercrime/cyber security legislation makes it
even more difficult to punish those who use ICTs tools to conduct violence against women. While,
the review of the Kenya Communications Amendment Act, enacted in January 2009, begins to deal
with the problem, it does not explicitly deal with all cyber crime and cyber security issues
on the person and specifically women.

With increased access to broadband, which will translate to increase in use of ICTs and the
Internet in particular, it is has become very urgent to ensure that policy and regulation
is developed to address issues of cyber violence against women.

This study is part of the KICTANet (Kenya ICT Action Network) and GRACE (Gender Research in
Africa into ICTs for Empowerment) GRACE Project supported by the International Development
and Research Centre (IDRC) and attempts to  provide an evidence based framework to address
cybercrime against women in Kenya and by extrapolation the East African Community Member state**