Online risks for women stressed in global campaign against gender based violence
Growing anti-feminist backlash, combined with increased reliance on digital spaces, is heightening online risks for women. Movements sustain themselves right now in online spaces giving anti-rights activists new opportunities to infiltrate. This is the conclusion of a statement by Marwa Azelmat, a digital rights expert and policy advocate for the Association for Progressive Communications.
The statement is published by UN Women in connection with annual campaign 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence that begins on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs through International Human Rights Day on 10 December. The campaign is supported by the United Nations through the Secretary General’s UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women initiative.
UN Women says that “violence against women and girls remains the most pervasive human rights violation around the world. Already heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, its prevalence is now being further increased by the intersecting crises of climate change, global conflict and economic instability”.
“Against this setting, a backlash against women’s rights is underway around the world. Anti-feminist movements are on the rise, attacks against women human rights defenders and activists are up, and the legal status of women’s rights is increasingly imperiled in many countries.”
“Regressive new laws are exacerbating impunity for perpetrators of domestic violence, governments are using force against femicide and gender-based violence protestors, and women’s rights organizations are being increasingly marginalized.”
“Despite these discouraging trends, there is more proof than ever that violence against women and girls is preventable. Evidence shows that the single most important driver of policy change is a strong and autonomous women’s movement—making feminist mobilization in the face of anti-rights backlash a literal matter of life and death.”
UN Women stresses that:
- More than 1 in 3 women experience gender-based violence during their lifetime.
- In 2021, nearly 1 in 5 women aged 20-24 were married before turning 18.
- Less than 40% of women who experience violence seek help of any sort.
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