Description of Session
As internet connectivity continues to expand, the sexual and gender-based violence women and girls face offline is being replicated online. When women enter an online environment, they face a disproportional risk of digital harassment, cyber stalking, doxxing, or the non-consensual distribution of images (i.e., “revenge porn”). Online violence has proven an especially powerful tool for undermining female (and female-identifying) human rights defenders and civil society leaders (especially those working on sensitive issues, such as sexual and reproductive health and human rights) worldwide, because the brutal response they face online also serves to endanger, discredit, shame, or defame them offline. Indeed, in a recent statement, the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights emphasized this threat, saying “Online campaigns against women human rights defenders and organizations aim to damage their credibility as advocates, to diminish or obliterate the power of their voices, and to restrict the already limited public space in which women's activists can mobilize and make a difference.” From our perspective, the global health community has not fully understood the importance of digital safety and security training especially for women. We believe that without strong support to help them navigate these threats, women self-censor, remove themselves from online spaces, or retreat from leadership positions. This impedes the meaningful participation of women and girls from acting as agents of change to lead movements that will encourage longer term peace and stability, the net result of which is the diminished participation of women in civic space writ large. We can (and should!) empower these leaders to take their digital safety into their own hands, but they require careful, targeted support to do so. We will discuss our work on this topic, and suggest ideas for the global health community to engage more in this space.
