The effects of technology on violence against women: The case of Northern Iraq-Erbil

Since the dawn of humanity, the problem of violence between individuals and social groups has emerged in various forms and continues today. The problem of violence against women is one of the ongoing problems from the past to the present. In our age, violence against women, who are weaker than men in terms of physiological structure, is seen in many forms such as physical, verbal, psychological, sexual, and technical. Therefore, the causes and effects of violence against women are considered to be one of the most important social problems today. Due to this importance, more and more attention has been paid to research on the subject in recent years. In particular, studies showing that developments in communication technologies make it easier to commit violence against women online and on social media attract attention. However, it cannot be said that there are enough studies on the causes and consequences of the violence that continues in parallel with the effects of technology in the Northern Iraq region, which has been in the midst of war violence and social conflicts for many years. For this reason, in this thesis, violence against women in Northern Iraq and the effects of technology use on violence against women are examined. First, the aim of the thesis is to determine the phenomenon of violence against women who are victims of violence or exposed to violence based on data. Secondly, it will offer solutions to reduce violence against women. In the research, assuming that women would hesitate to talk about private issues due to cultural reasons, the descriptive research model, which is a quantitative method, was preferred and the survey technique was used as a research technique. The city of Erbil, the capital of the Northern Iraq Regional Government of Iraq, was selected as the population of the study. A sample group of 160 volunteer women who volunteered to participate in the study constituted the population of the study consisting of volunteers residing in Erbil, the capital of Northern Iraq. The data collection tool included a 14-question form and a 4-question socio-demographic information form to assess the impact of technology on violence against women. The data obtained were processed using SPSS 29.0 package program. As a result of the research, it was determined that social media has reached an uncontrollable point and its impact on family privacy causes violence against women. It was also determined that good and pure intentions are abused factors in violence against women. It is also understood that there is a significant relationship between the frequency of daily internet and social media use and violence against women. Considering these results, it has reached the conclusion that communication technologies have very important effects on the social and cultural structure of a society, especially on family relations.