Information Minister Lynda Tabuya.[Photo: FILE]

Online abuse is becoming a new form of picket line that is pushing women workers out of public life, according to Information Minister Lynda Tabuya.

Speaking at the Fiji Trades Union Congress leader’s symposium, Tabuya said women in Fiji are increasingly being targeted online in ways that mirror workplace harassment and silence their participation.

She said she has personally experienced such abuse and has witnessed it directed at other women across the country. She pointed to repeated attacks that shift attention away from women’s work.

“The threats against a woman activist’s children, the ridicule of a woman unionist’s voice, online harassment of a worker because of her work, is workplace harassment – even if it’s not happening physically in the workplace. That is worker harassment. It does not become acceptable because it happens on a phone after hours.”

Tabuya also raised concerns about threats and intimidation targeting women activists and unionists.

She said threats against children, ridicule of women’s voices, and sustained online harassment tied to their work should all be treated as worker harassment. She stressed that it does not become acceptable simply because it happens on a phone outside working hours.

She said this is one of the reasons Fiji introduced the Online Safety Act, aimed at strengthening protections for people in digital spaces, including workers.

However, she warned that laws alone are not enough to address the problem.

She said unions have a critical role to play in protecting women, noting that stronger collective action is needed to challenge workplace-related online harassment.

Tabuya said unions remain one of the few institutions able to step into workplaces and demand accountability, adding that they must continue to act when harassment crosses the line.