Organised on the occasion of the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) by Germany’s Presidency of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, the Council of Europe and the National Council of German Women`s Organisations, this high level side event was livestreamed on 17 March 2021 on the Council of Europe, Directorate General Democracy Facebook page.
Tackling online abuse against women has never been as important as today, following its dramatic increase during the COVID -19 pandemic. Especially on social media, girls and women of all ages, origins and religions face heightened threat levels every day.
Digitalization has undoubtedly allowed for the creation of more opportunities, but it has also created a digital gender gap and has unfortunately become a space where girls and women can feel as unsafe as in the offline world.
Drawing upon promising research, the six panelists presented initiatives and strategies to achieve women's equal digital participation and online empowerment, and to end online violence against women. The Istanbul Convention’s importance was also reminded, as it represents the gold standard to creating a comprehensive legal framework and achieving a Europe free from online violence.
Many interesting leads were also put forward and discussed, such as working on the public health approach, using restorative justice, changing the language we use when speaking to victims of abuse, or changing the culture inside companies.
Key and thought-provoking questions were raised: what should be the strategy after the pandemic is over? Should perpetrators of online abuse be punished the same way offline abusers are? Should there be a ‘digital tech tax’ for companies to address the harm that they are contributing to?
Reinforced moderation of content, more trainings to help women and girls protect themselves online, addressing the issue from a political point of view, educating children and teenagers in schools on how to react to cyberviolence: a wide variety of ideas were shared and contributed to the success of this event.
All panelists agreed on the need to stress the following: online violence must absolutely be taken as seriously as offline violence, and the digital gender gap is not a technical question but a political one.
- Watch the Digital gender gaps and opportunities webinar on Facebook
- More information on the Webinar’s page Side event - 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women - 2021
- Read the T-CY cyberviolence mapping study