By Satakshi Malviya
The rapid advancement of digital technology has revolutionized communication and connection, yet it has simultaneously unveiled a dangerous new frontier for abuse and inequality. This paradox is profoundly visible in the pervasive and often-unpunished acts of gender-based digital violence (GBDV), which silences, harasses, and harms women and girls across the globe. Against this crucial backdrop, the annual 16 Days (November 25 to December 10) of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign serves as an urgent platform for global mobilization. This year, the international focus sharpens on the digital sphere, amplified by a resounding call from UN Women, challenging governments, corporations, and individuals to usher in a world where technology fundamentally serves equality, rather than operating as an instrument of digital harm.
Gender-Based Digital Violence (GBDV) encompasses any act of violence committed, assisted, or aggravated by the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) against women or girls, that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological, or economic harm or suffering and can tragically escalate to physical violence and femicide, disproportionately affecting them due to their gender. This insidious form of abuse is not merely a digital nuisance; it is a serious violation of human rights and a direct threat to online participation, manifesting through tactics such as cyberstalking, non-consensual sharing of intimate images (revenge porn), online harassment, doxing, hate speech, and digital monitoring. By exploiting the reach and anonymity of the internet, GBDV seeks to shame, silence and intimidate, effectively pushing women and girls out of digital spaces and limiting their ability to exercise their voice and agency. The escalating crisis of Gender-Based Digital Violence (GBDV) has positioned it at the forefront of UN Women’s global agenda, recognizing it as a critical and urgent threat to women’s rights and global equality. GBDV is not merely a virtual phenomenon; it is an insidious violation of human rights that exploits Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to inflict real-world harm.
The urgency of this focus is strategically amplified during the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, a global mobilization running from November 25 to December 10. For the 2025 campaign, UN Women has coalesced its efforts under the banner of “UNiTE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls,” marking a decisive commitment to tackling this digital pandemic. This focus is necessitated by the alarming scale of the problem: between 16% and 58% of women and girls worldwide have experienced some form of digital violence, and with less than 40% of countries having laws to address cyber harassment, nearly 1.8 billion women and girls are left unprotected, allowing perpetrators to act with impunity. Furthermore, the rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence has amplified the abuse, as evidenced by up to 95% of non-consensual deepfake pornography targeting women, severely undermining the participation of women leaders, journalists, and activists in public life.
To combat this multifaceted threat, UN Women is deploying a comprehensive, multi-pronged strategy that demands accountability across all sectors. This involves urging governments to enact and rigorously enforce rights-based laws that criminalize digital violence and strengthen tech sector accountability, supported by the launch of new tools like a supplement to the Handbook for Legislation on Violence against Women focused on technology-facilitated violence, and a Guide for Police on addressing the issue. Simultaneously, the organization calls upon tech companies to embed principles of safety and privacy-by-design, enforce transparent codes of conduct, and swiftly remove harmful content. Finally, UN Women is committed to prevention and resilience, which includes investing in digital literacy for women and girls, challenging toxic online communities, and ensuring sustained funding and specialized support for survivors and the women’s rights organizations working on the front lines.
Far from mere campaign shock-tactics, the symbolic “digital disappearance” or erasure of women-resonates acutely with Hannah Arendt’s foundational concept of the vita activa, specifically the importance of the public space for genuine political existence. For Arendt, to be seen and heard in the public realm is the essence of political life and action, yet GBDV systematically violates this premise. By using targeted online harassment and disinformation to intimidate, discredit, and force women out of digital platforms-the contemporary public space-GBDV effectively dismantles their capacity for epos, or meaningful contribution, thereby denying them the fundamental human right to fully participate in political and social discourse.
The glaring failure of governments worldwide to govern the digital public sphere represents a profound ethical and legislative negligence, prioritizing capitalist technological advancement over fundamental human rights. While nations aggressively court foreign investment and boast of their burgeoning tech economies, they have simultaneously allowed the digital landscape to become a breeding ground for impunity, particularly concerning Gender-Based Digital Violence (GBDV). This chasm between technological ambition and regulatory action is starkly evident in major economies like India, which, despite its massive digital footprint and aspiration to be a technology superpower, lacks any specific, comprehensive law dedicated to addressing GBDV as a distinct crime. This legislative vacuum ensures that perpetrators of abuses-from the widespread digital auctioning of women in the ‘Bulli Bai’ and ‘Sulli Deals’ cases to routine, virulent cyber-stalking, and doxing-operate with virtual immunity. By failing to upgrade their legal frameworks to match the speed of their digital infrastructure, these governments are not only complicit in the silencing and harm of women but are actively creating a state where technology serves as a privatized tool of patriarchal violence, protected by public-sector inaction.
