The International Women’s Day 2023 campaign theme is #EmbraceEquity.

Equity — a must-have in our data-driven societies — “implies recognizing that each person has different circumstances, and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.”

On International Women’s Day, the Datasphere Initiative wants to shed light on what the UN has called “the global pandemic of violence against women and girls.” In this article, I look at why addressing cyberviolence against women and girls and adopting a gender lens for data policy is crucial to #EmbraceEquity for a diverse and inclusive Datasphere — the complex system encompassing all types of data and their dynamic interactions with human groups and norms.

It is urgent to approach the Datasphere from a gender perspective and incorporate a holistic approach that does not only target bias in data and data gaps but fights against the ongoing violence within data and digital spaces that particularly affect women and girls. 

The UN defines “violence against women” in Article 1 of the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”

Cyberviolence is one form of violence against women and girls that has risen in the past decades and is still today underreported and underrepresented. Abuses against girls and women in the digital sphere stop the full realization of gender equality and perpetuate human rights violations such as freedom of expression, dignity, and life.

As our societies become more digitized, technological tools and data flows have opened the space for new voices to engage. Women groups and communities have highly benefited from these tools. However, they are also significantly vulnerable and affected by them. UNESCO data suggests that in 2015, 73% of women had already been exposed to or had experienced some form of online violence.¹ These numbers only worsened during and due to the COVID-19 pandemic.²

Power structures and patterns of discrimination deepen with the introduction of new technologies. AI developments incorporate binary technologies that could leave trans and other LGBTI+ communities behind. A woman recently reported being sexually assaulted in the metaverse — where governance is crucial — which could be unsafe spaces for women and other minorities. Thus, it is fundamental to incorporate a gender lens into the holistic approach to the Datasphere. By doing so, new evolutions of digital technologies will be diverse, inclusive, and safe for all. 

“We need a multipronged approach, both proactive and reactive, that is inclusive of all relevant actors, including privately owned social and digital media, to eliminate violence against women and girls in digital contexts.” 

~ Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights (15 March 2022)

There are many examples of organizations fighting cyberviolence against women and girls and working toward equity in data policy. In Europe, efforts such as the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) work to better understand the nature and prevalence of cyber VAWG. In the MENA Region, EuroMed Rights has developed a comprehensive study in nine countries of the region (Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, and Syria), exploring the gender equality risks in the digital space, online gender-based violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, and online violence against LGBTIQ+ people. In Colombia, Dominemos la Tecnología seeks to empower women with the tools to know and exercise their rights in the digital sphere. They have a series of tools and partnerships to support minorities —  especially women and girls — when reporting abuses and to create communities around technologies. In South Africa, the Wireless Application Service Providers Association (WASPA) developed a series of interviews with Ilonka Badenhortst, Managing Executive, to raise awareness about gender-based violence going digital.

Equity implies recognizing the different impacts that a data-driven society can have on certain communities or groups of individuals. Since girls and women are particularly exposed to cyberviolence and other online risks, there is an urgent need for stakeholders to allocate resources and create opportunities to reach equal outcomes in our data-driven world.

About the Author

Mariana Rozo-Paz is a Research Associate at the Datasphere Initiative. A lawyer and public policy professional,  she graduated summa cum laude with minors in international studies and political science from Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. Rozo-Paz studied AI and digital policy, data for policy, and international law at Sciences Po, the University of Chicago, and American University. She has worked for more than seven years in pro-bono initiatives with youth, especially young women and girls, to raise their voices and co-empower them. Rozo-Paz is co-founder of the “Girls in Tech” initiative in Colombia, a member of the WEF’s Global Shapers Community in the Bogotá Hub, President of Uniandes Women in Business, and Chief Legal Designer of the Global VYAP Network and COLVYAP.

Reference: [1] Broadband Commission for Digital Development – Working Group on Broadband and Gender (2015). Cyber Violence Against Women and Girls: A World-Wide Wake-Up Call. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). [2] UN Women. (2020). Infographic: The Shadow Pandemic – Violence Against Women and Girls and COVID-19.