New Realities: Cyberbullying and Maternal Mobbing

Cyberbullying at Work: Digital Torture

Cyberbullying is the adaptation of mobbing to the digital age and presents unique characteristics: virality and omnipresence.

It includes sending emails with massive copies to expose the victim's mistakes, exclusion from work WhatsApp groups where decisions are made, or the use of social networks to defame the employee.

The danger lies in the fact that the aggression is documented and can be seen by mass audiences, multiplying the humiliation.

In addition, hyperconnectivity allows the harasser to invade the victim's personal space 24/7, sending intimidating messages at any time, preventing the digital disconnection necessary for mental health.

Maternal Mobbing: Specific Gender Discrimination

This modality attacks working women in their stages of pregnancy, maternity or breastfeeding.

The harasser sees maternity as a "betrayal" of total availability to the company.

It manifests itself through blaming comments ("now that you are a mother you are not as committed"), assignment of tasks incompatible with her physical condition, or pressure to resign before or after childbirth.

It also includes hindering breastfeeding leave or medical appointments.

It is a cruel form of harassment that not only affects the woman, but also puts the baby's health at risk and undermines the special protection that society and the law grant to maternity.

Teleworking and Invisibilization

With the rise of remote work, a new form of harassment has emerged: digital invisibilization.

It consists of deliberately ignoring a teleworker, not summoning him to virtual meetings, not answering his emails and leaving him in an information limbo.

By not being physically present, it is easier to isolate the victim.

On the other hand, there is also the opposite extreme: excessive telematic control, requiring the camera to be on all day or installing invasive surveillance software (spyware) under the guise of measuring productivity, whic