New Zealand Businesses Back Women's Refuge to Make Asking for Help Online Safe
Women's Refuge have partnered with Saatchi & Saatchi and some of New
Zealand's leading organisations to create 'The Shielded Site': a place
where people who experience family violence can feel safe to seek help
without alerting abusers that may be monitoring their online movements.
They are launching the site ahead of the Christmas holiday season, when
family violence rates in New Zealand will spike dramatically.
New Zealand has the worst family violence rates in the developed world with one in three women experiencing abuse at some stage in their lifetime. In addition to the escalating rates, the methods used to perpetrate violence are also evolving, which means there is an increasing need for organisations like Women's Refuge to advance the ways that they support victims.
New Zealand has the worst family violence rates in the developed world with one in three women experiencing abuse at some stage in their lifetime. In addition to the escalating rates, the methods used to perpetrate violence are also evolving, which means there is an increasing need for organisations like Women's Refuge to advance the ways that they support victims.
While technology can be a powerful tool for victims of domestic violence
to ask for help, get information and stay in touch with support
networks; in an increasingly digitally connected society, technology has
also extended the reach of abusers. Women's Refuge is increasingly
seeing abusers use a phone's GPS location to track their victims, obtain
their victim's email or banking passwords, even checking their web
browser history to monitor them. This means that it is now harder than
ever for those looking for help and information to reach out and find it
safely.
The Shielded Site is an expandable iFrame that can sit on any host website and contains vital information a victim can use to ask for help, keep themselves safe, or plan for a future free from violence. The site itself never appears in a user's browser history, adding a level of safety while they access the information they need. By appearing on multiple sites across the internet the application is intended to be a discreet tool for a user to find information, in the form of a smaller viewport and without the need to directly visit The Women's Refuge website. It also allows businesses to display their support for victims of Domestic Violence.
ASB Bank, The Warehouse, Sorted, Z Energy and Saatchi & Saatchi are amongst the first New Zealand organisations and websites to support the initiative by adding the tab to their site.
The Shielded Site will be hosted by ASB Bank so users can feel safe in the knowledge that they are in a secure environment. Contact details received through the site are sent directly to Women's Refuge securely and without being stored. ASB has also committed to sponsoring the ongoing hosting of the site, meaning that any business or website in New Zealand can safely and accessibly add the tab to their site.
ASB general manager digital Fiona Colgan says ASB is proud to support the Shielded Site initiative with the tab on its website, and to provide site hosting to enable other companies to join.
Says Colgan: "This is a positive initiative and we are delighted to get behind it. If we can help even one woman to reach out in a safe way to get support, it's been a success.
"We encourage more New Zealand businesses to join us and create a place of refuge on their websites. To truly make this effective, the Shielded Site needs to be everywhere, and in the places people would visit in the course of a typical day."
The Shielded Site has been in development over the past 18 months as Women's Refuge worked with Saatchi & Saatchi to find a robust way to safely reach people online. Earlier this year, they launched a beta version with The Warehouse, who have since been helping to test and refine the design.
Says Dr Ang Jury, CEO of Women's Refuge: "On average, just over 500 people a month look for advice and help through our website. The most dangerous time in a relationship is when a victim is planning on leaving, or immediately after they've left; so being able to assist people to do this discretely and safely will mean more people can access help and information.
"Coming into the Christmas period, we know the numbers for family violence will increase dramatically. Last year over the holiday period (15th Dec to 15th Jan), over 6,000 Women and children across Aotearoa needed our services.
"If you are, or think you might be experiencing abuse in your relationship and being monitored online, look for the logo on any of the partnering business' sites to launch a shielded version of the Women's Refuge site.
"We'd like to thank The Warehouse, ASB and our other launch partners for helping us get this initiative off the ground. We hope others will follow their lead and add the tab to their site, making more places of refuge. Our ultimate goal is for every website in New Zealand to contain a Shielded Site. To find out how you can do this, visit shielded.co.nz."
The Shielded Site is an expandable iFrame that can sit on any host website and contains vital information a victim can use to ask for help, keep themselves safe, or plan for a future free from violence. The site itself never appears in a user's browser history, adding a level of safety while they access the information they need. By appearing on multiple sites across the internet the application is intended to be a discreet tool for a user to find information, in the form of a smaller viewport and without the need to directly visit The Women's Refuge website. It also allows businesses to display their support for victims of Domestic Violence.
ASB Bank, The Warehouse, Sorted, Z Energy and Saatchi & Saatchi are amongst the first New Zealand organisations and websites to support the initiative by adding the tab to their site.
The Shielded Site will be hosted by ASB Bank so users can feel safe in the knowledge that they are in a secure environment. Contact details received through the site are sent directly to Women's Refuge securely and without being stored. ASB has also committed to sponsoring the ongoing hosting of the site, meaning that any business or website in New Zealand can safely and accessibly add the tab to their site.
ASB general manager digital Fiona Colgan says ASB is proud to support the Shielded Site initiative with the tab on its website, and to provide site hosting to enable other companies to join.
Says Colgan: "This is a positive initiative and we are delighted to get behind it. If we can help even one woman to reach out in a safe way to get support, it's been a success.
"We encourage more New Zealand businesses to join us and create a place of refuge on their websites. To truly make this effective, the Shielded Site needs to be everywhere, and in the places people would visit in the course of a typical day."
The Shielded Site has been in development over the past 18 months as Women's Refuge worked with Saatchi & Saatchi to find a robust way to safely reach people online. Earlier this year, they launched a beta version with The Warehouse, who have since been helping to test and refine the design.
Says Dr Ang Jury, CEO of Women's Refuge: "On average, just over 500 people a month look for advice and help through our website. The most dangerous time in a relationship is when a victim is planning on leaving, or immediately after they've left; so being able to assist people to do this discretely and safely will mean more people can access help and information.
"Coming into the Christmas period, we know the numbers for family violence will increase dramatically. Last year over the holiday period (15th Dec to 15th Jan), over 6,000 Women and children across Aotearoa needed our services.
"If you are, or think you might be experiencing abuse in your relationship and being monitored online, look for the logo on any of the partnering business' sites to launch a shielded version of the Women's Refuge site.
"We'd like to thank The Warehouse, ASB and our other launch partners for helping us get this initiative off the ground. We hope others will follow their lead and add the tab to their site, making more places of refuge. Our ultimate goal is for every website in New Zealand to contain a Shielded Site. To find out how you can do this, visit shielded.co.nz."
