Tarfa Meshal Aldoweekh
Cybercrime against Females: A scrutiny of Social workers’ Role in Saudi Arabia
Supervisors
Dr Tarsem Singh Cooner and Dr Joy Fillingham
In recent years, the effects of Cybercrimes on academic performance was more pronounced among female students as compared to male student where this pose one of the major challenges especially in conservative cultures. In Saudi Arabia, research posits that the standards on physical and psychological attributes of a female within the traditional Saudi Arabian society differs from what is constructed elsewhere in the globe. Although there exists a framework for Saudi Arabia’s preparedness against cyber threats among most of the domains, the involvement of social workers is not articulately specified.
Social workers have three key roles including the provision of psychotherapy services to students. Furthermore, their responsibilities are broader since they include handling emergent social concerns facing students. With relation to cybercrimes, Social workers can also participate in the mitigation of cybercrimes on female students, who may, due to the socio-cultural norms, be unwilling to report incidents. It is indicated that to prevent cyber harassment, it was necessary to engage in an analysis of the online conduct of the parties to determine the nature of the activities. Limited studies have emphasized the intervention of social workers in cases of cybercrimes facing female Saudi students, considering that some of the cybercrimes are motivated by vulnerabilities and opportunities that are specific to the female Saudi students.
Biography
Tarfa is from Saudi Arabia where her main background and area of speciality is in social work. Following her BA in Social work in 2010, she pursued my postgraduate degree in Social Work where she conducted research on activities that motivate extra curricula activities for University Female Students in Saudi Arabia, which was published in 2016. Tarfa began my academic career back in 2012 at King Saud University teaching at the Faculty of Arts where she was teaching a variety of subjects within the BA in Social Work. Tarfa particularly focused on social plan, policies, women and youth issues, cybercrime and criminal justice. At a later point in my academic career, from 2015, Tarfa also worked as a Social Working Coach who supervised and coached many University Female Students.
In 2019, Tarfa began her PhD journey investigating the role of social workers in preventing and supporting University Female students who experienced cybercrime. The topic stimulated from her experience as an academic and as a social working coach, and in response to many of the contemporary challenges caused by the vast wave of technological advancements, and what strategies can be put in place to tackle vulnerabilities.
Qualifications
- BA in Social Work
- MA in Social Work
Research Interests
- Social plan and policy
- Women issues
- Youth issues
- Cybercrime
- Criminal justice.
Professional Memberships
A member in Saudi social studies society
Contact details
Email: Tma808@student.bham.ac.uk
Twitter: @tarfamd