Blog
When Violence Comes Through the Screen
Digital technologies have become integral to education, work, communication and civic participation. Yet this same connectivity has created new avenues for gender-based violence. Harm can now reach women and girls regardless of their physical location or safety measures, appearing on personal devices in the form of harassment, threats, coercion, public shaming or the non-consensual use of personal content. Violence no longer requires physical proximity; it can be delivered instantly, continuously and anonymously through everyday digital platforms, affecting those who are simply striving to learn, work, express themselves or remain connected.
Digital violence is not a separate, “virtual” problem. It is the twenty-first century’s extension of a very old story: the attempt to control women’s voices, bodies and presence. Global research suggests that somewhere between 16 and 58 per cent of women and girls have experienced some form of online harassment, abuse or violation (UN Regional Information Centre; UN Women). At the same time, nearly half of the world’s women and girls still lack adequate legal protection against digital abuse, leaving a vast number of survivors navigating this terrain alone (UN Women). When legal and social systems fail to keep pace with technology, impunity becomes inevitable. A society accustomed to separating the virtual from the real continues to dismiss these attacks as mere online disputes, ignoring the fact that the consequences are deeply human.
A name, a story, a continuum of harm
Behind every statistic is a life. In 2025, UN Women centered its global “UNiTE” initiative on ending digital violence against women and girls. One of the voices highlighted in the campaign is Ljubica, an activist who left an abusive relationship only to discover the abuse continued through her phone and computer, shaping her sense of safety and autonomy long after the physical escape (UN Women).
Her story reflects a brutal continuity: technology becomes another tool of coercive control. Location tracking disguised as concern. Passwords demanded under the pretext of “trust”. Threats to share intimate images framed as consequences for leaving. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has documented how ordinary platforms are turned into mechanisms of surveillance and humiliation within abusive relationships (eSafety Commissioner).
In Europe, the landmark case of M.Ș.D. v. Romania shows how digital abuse can escalate without protection. An eighteen-year-old woman saw her intimate images shared online by a former partner, exposing her to shame, fear and potential violence. Authorities delayed action and lacked adequate legal tools. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that states have a positive obligation to protect women from digital violence as a serious violation of rights (European Court of Human Rights; Strasbourg Observers).
These stories reveal a continuum. The harms are emotional, psychological, social and sometimes physical. Abuse once confined to private spaces can now follow survivors across cities, countries, and every digital corner of their future.
What the twenty-first century landscape tells us
We are living through two simultaneous realities: rapid digital transformation and a renewed backlash against gender equality. Technology has opened opportunities in education, leadership and entrepreneurship. Yet it has also enabled anonymous harassment, mass humiliation and expanded violence beyond physical limits (UN Women; UNFPA; Amnesty International).
The consequences reach far beyond individuals. Women are self-censoring. They are leaving online spaces. Nearly half of women report limiting their political expression online due to fear or past experiences of abuse (Stevens et al.). When women and girls withdraw from the digital public sphere, democracy and development are weakened.
The economic implications are profound: improving women’s digital participation could add an estimated $1.5 trillion to the global economy by 2030 (UN Women). Without safe access, this potential remains locked away and the world will fail key Sustainable Development Goals including SDG 5 on gender equality, SDG 8 on economic inclusion, and SDG 16 on safe and just societies.
Looking forward, experts anticipate that gender-based digital violence will grow more automated, more invasive and harder to trace. Deepfake sexual abuse, AI-driven harassment, data extraction used for blackmail — these emerging forms are already here (OECD). Without action, the twenty-first century risks becoming defined not only by the power of technology, but by the scale of harm it enables.
How developed nations are beginning to respond
Progress is emerging. In 2024, the European Union adopted its first directive specifically addressing violence against women, including digital offences such as cyber-flashing, doxxing and non-consensual intimate image distribution (European Union; Reuters). The Council of Europe also calls for states to treat digital and offline violence as one continuum, demanding criminalisation and survivor-centred protections (Council of Europe).
The United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act now requires tech platforms to assess and mitigate harms to women and girls, remove illegal content and prevent algorithmic amplification of abuse (Ofcom; UK Government). In Australia, the Online Safety Act established an independent regulator with the power to compel rapid removal of abusive material, including intimate image abuse (eSafety Commissioner). South Africa’s Cybercrimes Act directly criminalises cyberstalking and image-based sexual abuse (Government of South Africa). Canada is advancing a proposed Online Harms Act to hold platforms meaningfully accountable (Government of Canada).
These efforts show a global shift: digital violence is no longer treated as trivial. It is recognised as gender-based violence that demands legal protection, institutional responsibility and coordinated international enforcement.
Leadership, strategy and new tactics
For SPROWT and we believe for other organisations across Africa and the world, the challenge is twofold: protect those currently at risk and transform the systems that allow digital violence to thrive.
Digital safety must be recognised as a human right and not a technical issue. UNFPA highlights the need for integrated national strategies that unite justice systems, education sectors, technology regulators and survivor services under a shared gender-responsive framework (UNFPA).
Practical approaches gaining traction include:
- Training law enforcement and justice systems to recognise digital coercive control as criminal violence
• Safety-by-design standards that require tech companies to prevent abuse rather than react to it
• Digital citizenship education addressing consent, by-stander intervention and critical media literacy
• Public campaigns for cultural change, challenging the idea that women must “accept” abuse online
• Survivor-led policy development, informed by lived realities rather than assumptions
Digital platforms may be borderless, therefore, solutions must be global. Cooperation across regions, governments and advocacy networks is essential.
What SPROWT sees, and what it chooses
The rise of digital violence is not only a threat as it is also a revelation. It shows how deeply resistance to women’s autonomy persists across both physical and digital worlds. It reminds us there is no neutral technological future: it will either extend equality, or extend oppression.
SPROWT is firmly committed to ensuring that women are not pushed to choose between safety and participation. In alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals and the global “UNiTE” movement, we advocate for legal progress, strengthen women’s digital capabilities, and help shape the environments where future generations will learn and lead.
When violence comes through the screen, it tests our laws, our institutions and our imagination. It challenges us to create a digital world where women can exist, speak, learn and lead without fear. The twenty-first century will be defined by whether we succeed in protecting that freedom.
The digital world will continue to expand, redrawing economies, public life and connection itself. Our responsibility as societies, institutions and individuals is to ensure that violence does not expand with it.
References
UN Women — Digital violence is real violence: One activist’s fight for safety and human rights. 2025.
UN Women — FAQs: Digital abuse, trolling, stalking, and technology-facilitated violence against women and girls. 2025.
UN Women — Facts and Figures: Ending Violence Against Women. 2025.
UNFPA — Framework for Preventing and Responding to Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence. 2025.
Amnesty International — Women’s rights under attack: we must fight back. 2025.
UN Regional Information Centre — Cyberviolence Against Women and Girls: The Growing Threat of the Digital Age. 2024.
OECD — Mapping Policy Responses to Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence in G7 Countries. 2025.
OECD — Gender-Based Violence: Global Overview Report. 2025.
European Court of Human Rights — Case of M.Ș.D. v. Romania: Ruling on Digital Violence and Human Rights Protection. 2025.
Strasbourg Observers — Analysis of the M.Ș.D. v. Romania Case and Implications for Europe. 2025.
European Union — Directive on Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, with provisions on digital crimes. 2024.
Reuters — “Women’s rights under attack and ‘we must fight back’, says UN Secretary-General.” 2025.
Government of the United Kingdom & Ofcom — Online Safety Regulatory Framework for Protecting Women and Girls. 2024–2025.
Government of Australia — eSafety Commissioner — Guidance and Protective Measures Against Digital Abuse. 2021–2025.
Government of South Africa — Cybercrimes Act: Criminalising Cyberstalking and Image-Based Sexual Abuse. 2022.
Government of Canada — Proposed Online Harms Act: Platform Accountability and User Protection. 2025.
Stevens et al. — Study on Gender Differences in Online Political Expression and Safety. 2024.
