gisw13_chapters

The Internet has become a site of diverse formsof violence against women, in the form ofpornography, sexist games and breaches of privacy.For women who engage in public debatethrough the Internet, the risk of harassment isexperienced online, for example, an anonymousnegative campaign calling for the gang rape ofa woman human rights defender, with racistabuse posted in her Wikipedia profile. FemaleICT users have publicly protested about sexistattacks.The report recommends that states support women’sequal participation in political and public lifethrough ICTs, including by:• Increasing women’s digital literacy, particularlyamong marginalised women.• Ensuring gender-responsiveness in the promotionand protection of human rights on the Internet.• Improving women’s access to the global governanceof ICTs.Effectively responding to and preventing technology-relatedforms of VAW require multiplestrategies and actions by different actors. This includesamongst other things:• Strengthening the capacity of women’ rightsorganisations, activists and users to use technologysafely and contribute towards buildingevidence and understanding of this emergingform of violence.• Calling on state and non-state actors (particularlyprivate sector actors) to recognise and addresstechnology-related forms of VAW and beaccountable for developing, supporting and encouragingonline environments and preventionand service responses that foreground women’srights and realities. These should include effectiveand responsive complaints mechanisms,laws (for legal remedies) and policies.• Raising awareness amongst all users about theissue of VAW.If we as internet rights and women’s rights activistsbelieve that the promised freedoms and opportunitiesof the internet and other ICTs should be accordedto all who use them, then we must confront theassumptions and systemic inequalities which continueto marginalise women, even in these supposedliberated spaces. We need to ask ourselves whatkind of internet rights activists we are if we do nottake women’s rights and safety seriously enough todo something about technology-related VAW. ■41 / Global Information Society Watch