Further straining women’s rights in digital world, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has proposed legislation meant to better protect women from harassment online. Spearheaded by bipartisan Representatives, the Online Safety and Digital Equality Act offered in both chambers of Congress is an attempt to make companies answer for not mitigating gender-based harassment on social media and offer new means for seeking justice.

New legislation is to be introduced concerning horrible statistics females, especially women of colour, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, sexual harassment, threats, stalking, and non-consensual sharing of naked images of themselves online. The Pew Research Center conducted a survey which revealed that 41% of the women faced some form of cyber harassment while only 22% men did the same.

The two main sponsors of the bill, Senator Maria Cantwell, underscored the importance of the actions, pointing at the fact that it is needed now more than ever. ”Internet has to be a place of freedom and eternal match-making for everyone, not only men,”, she said. On the same note, through this legislation women will be placed in a position that they are able to embrace the digital space without having to worry about being harassed or abused.

The bill has been endorsed by the NOW, ADL, the National Women’s law center and other related groups across the country. Representatives in the tech industry have given varied responses, where some tech companies have agreed with the objectives of the bill but pointed at the practicalities of the execution as the major issue.

During the course of the legislation, lawmakers are buoyed about passage chances since there has been increasing acknowledgment of the likelihood of online harassment by lawmakers on both sides of the isle. Therefore, if implemented the Online Safety and Digital Equality Act could be a major milestone towards achieving better protection of women and girls online.