Legal gaps leaving women exposed to online harassment
Fewer than 40% of countries have laws protecting women from cyber harassment or cyber stalking. This leaves 44% of the world’s women and girls – 1.8 billion – without access to legal protection, UN Women says basing its statement on World Bank data. “This year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign calls for urgent global action to close legal gaps and hold perpetrators and tech platforms accountable.”
“Women in leadership, business, and politics face deepfakes, coordinated harassment, and gendered disinformation designed to drive them to deplatform or leave public life altogether. Across the world, one in four women journalists report online threats of physical violence, including death threats.”
“What begins online doesn’t stay online. Digital abuse spills into real life, spreading fear, silencing voices, and—in the worst cases—leading to physical violence and femicide,” says UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous.
“Laws must evolve with technology to ensure that justice protects women both online and offline. Weak legal protections leave millions of women and girls vulnerable, while perpetrators act with impunity. This is unacceptable. Through our 16 Days of Activism campaign, UN Women calls for a world where technology serves equality, not harm.”
The organisation stresses that reporting of online abuse and violence remains low.
“Justice systems are ill-equipped and tech platforms face little accountability. The rise of AI-generated abuse has only deepened impunity across borders and platforms.”
“But there are signs of progress. Laws are beginning to evolve to meet the challenges of technological change: from the UK’s Online Safety Act to Mexico’s Ley Olimpia to Australia’s Online Safety Act and the EU’s Digital Safety Act, new reforms are taking shape.”
“As of 2025, 117 countries reported efforts addressing digital violence, but efforts remain fragmented for a transnational challenge.”
UN Women is calling for:
- Global cooperation to ensure digital platforms and AI tools meet safety and ethics standards.
- Support for survivors of digital violence by funding women’s rights organisations.
- Holding perpetrators accountable through better laws and enforcement.
- Tech companies to step up by hiring more women to create safer online spaces, removing harmful content quickly, and responding to reports of abuse.
- Investments in prevention and culture change through digital literacy and online safety training for women and girls, and programmes that challenge toxic online cultures.
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