Based on our previous work in OGBV Big Tech Commitments and findings from our Accountability work, we are progressing two key initiatives: Better Policies and Interventions, which aim to address and improve evaluation of tech tools and provide guidance on policies and practices both at tech company and government levels, and Better Data, which seeks to establish common ontology and address gaps in perpetrator research.
The digital world has become a new front in the assault on the freedom and power of women.
Women and girls are experiencing a surge of violence and abuse online. This abuse takes many forms – perpetrators might threaten women online with physical or sexual violence, or subject women to sexist or misogynistic comments. Individuals or groups might also coordinate abuse and harassment against women online to overwhelm and intimidate them, share non-consensual intimate images of a woman, or publicly share someone’s personal information with the aim to cause them distress and alarm (doxxing).
This abuse isn’t less harmful because it happens behind a screen.
OGBV can have devastating consequences for the reputations and the physical and mental health of those targeted. It can cost women their jobs and damage relationships. Furthermore, online abuse can silence, discredit, and censor women's voices online.
Women from all ages, regions and professions are affected by OGBV. However, there are certain communities who are particularly impacted by OGBV. Women experiencing other forms of oppression are more at risk, such as members of the LGBTQI+ community and indigenous women, as are women working in the public eye. Globally, 38% of women have reported being personally subject to online violence. This rises to 45% for Gen Zs and Millennials. A 2020 Web Foundation survey found 52% of young women and girls had experienced abuse online.
There is limited data and research available on the perpetrators of OGBV, and research that does exist often relies on the survivor to provide information about the perpetrator, rather than conducting research with perpetrators directly. From the evidence that does exist, we know that perpetrators work alone and in groups, and can be personally known to the survivor, such as an ex-partner, friend or colleague, but can also be strangers or work through anonymous online profiles.
Strategies for change
OGBV is a vast and complex issue. Every stakeholder from tech, to government, civil society, academia, media and users themselves, has a role to play in ending it.
Solving this complex issue requires a long-term, multi-sectoral, multi-dimensional and representative approach, led by and for organizations impacted by OGBV, with a core mission of ending it.
