The dawn of the digital era arrived with a shimmering promise: a world where connectivity would spark empowerment, where information would be democratized, and where the voices of the marginalized could finally resonate across borders. Yet, for millions of women and girls, that promise has curdled into a pervasive and evolving nightmare. The internet, once envisioned as a town square for progress, has increasingly become a high-tech battlefield where digital violence is deployed as a weapon of suppression. As we navigate 2025, a chilling reality has emerged: while technology advances at breakneck speed, the legal frameworks meant to protect human dignity are lagging dangerously behind. According to the latest data from the World Bank, a staggering 44 per cent of the world’s women and girls—approximately 1.8 billion people—live in jurisdictions where they lack any meaningful legal protection from digital abuse.
This global protection gap is not merely a bureaucratic oversight; it is a systemic failure that leaves nearly half of the world’s female population vulnerable to a spectrum of harms that did not exist a generation ago. Digital violence is no longer confined to crude insults in comment sections. It has mutated into sophisticated forms of aggression, including cyberstalking, doxing, coordinated disinformation campaigns, and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. The rise of generative artificial intelligence has only added fuel to the fire, enabling the creation of hyper-realistic deepfakes designed to shame and silence. In this digital Wild West, perpetrators often operate under a veil of anonymity, emboldened by the knowledge that fewer than 40 per cent of countries currently have specific laws targeting cyber harassment or stalking.
The impact of this violence is particularly acute for women in the public eye. For those in leadership, business, and politics, the digital space has become a gauntlet of gendered disinformation. These are not random acts of trolling but calculated efforts to drive women out of public life and deplatform their influence. The statistics for those on the front lines of information are even more harrowing: one in every four women journalists reports receiving online threats of physical violence, including explicit death threats. When the digital world is weaponized against those who speak truth to power, the foundations of democratic discourse begin to crumble.
“What begins online doesn’t stay online,” warns UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous. Her words highlight a critical misunderstanding of the modern era—the idea that the “virtual” world is somehow separate from “real” life. “Digital abuse spills into real life, spreading fear, silencing voices, and—in the worst cases—leading to physical violence and femicide,” Bahous explains. She emphasizes that laws must evolve in lockstep with technology to ensure justice is not a privilege reserved for the offline world. “Weak legal protections leave millions of women and girls vulnerable, while perpetrators act with impunity. This is unacceptable.”
The 2025 iteration of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign is centering this very crisis. Running from November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, through to December 10, Human Rights Day, the campaign is a clarion call for a world where technology serves the cause of equality rather than the interests of abusers. This year’s focus on digital violence reflects the urgency of a problem that is evolving faster than our social institutions can react.
Despite the grim statistics, there are flickers of legislative progress that offer a roadmap for the future. A handful of nations have begun to treat digital safety with the gravity it deserves. The United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act, Mexico’s landmark Ley Olimpia—named after activist Olimpia Coral Melo who fought for justice after her intimate videos were shared without consent—Australia’s Online Safety Act, and the European Union’s Digital Safety Act represent a new generation of legal reforms. These laws are designed to hold not just individual abusers, but also the tech platforms themselves, accountable for the environments they curate. As of 2025, 117 countries have reported some form of effort to address digital violence. However, these efforts remain largely fragmented, creating a “jurisdiction-hopping” environment where abusers can exploit the lack of international legal harmony.
The barriers to justice remain formidable. For many survivors, the path to redress is blocked by a justice system that is fundamentally ill-equipped to handle digital evidence. Reporting rates for online abuse remain tragically low, often because victims believe—frequently correctly—that the police will not take their claims seriously or lack the technical expertise to investigate them. Furthermore, the transnational nature of the internet means that a harasser in one country can target a victim in another with little fear of extradition or prosecution. This impunity is exacerbated by the shield of AI, which allows for the mass production of abusive content at a scale that manual moderation cannot hope to contain.
To bridge this gap, UN Women is calling for a comprehensive overhaul of how we approach digital safety. The organization is launching two critical new tools aimed at empowering those on the front lines of law enforcement and policy: the *Supplement to the Handbook for Legislation on Violence against Women on Technology-facilitated violence against women and girls* and the *Guide for Police on Addressing Technology-Facilitated Violence*. These resources are intended to provide practical, survivor-centered guidance for prevention and response, ensuring that when a woman walks into a police station to report a digital crime, she is met with understanding and action rather than confusion.
The push for these changes is being driven by a global movement of feminist advocates who have successfully fought to have digital violence recognized as a violation of fundamental human rights. However, this progress is under threat. Feminist movements are currently facing a “perfect storm” of shrinking civic space, unprecedented funding cuts, and a coordinated backlash against women’s rights. In this hostile climate, initiatives like the EU-funded ‘ACT to End Violence against Women and Girls’ programme have become essential lifelines. By supporting feminist organizations and building coalitions, the ACT programme ensures that the voices of survivors remain at the center of the legislative debate.
The 2025 UNiTE campaign is not just asking for better laws; it is asking for a cultural shift in how we perceive the digital world. It calls on technology companies to prioritize safety by design, rather than treating it as an afterthought or a PR hurdle. It urges governments to invest in digital literacy programs that teach the next generation that consent and respect are just as mandatory in a chatroom as they are in a classroom. And it demands that the international community treat digital violence with the same urgency as any other form of physical assault.
The 16 Days of Activism serve as a reminder that the digital divide is not just about who has access to the internet, but who is safe once they get there. The campaign highlights that until the digital space is safe for all women and girls, true gender equality will remain an elusive goal. Digital literacy, survivor-centered services, and long-term investment in women’s rights organizations are the pillars upon which a safer internet must be built.
UN Women, as the lead UN entity on gender equality, continues to advocate for these systemic changes. By shifting laws, institutions, and social behaviors, the organization aims to close the gender gap and build a world where the rights of women and girls are protected “always and everywhere.” The message for the 2025 campaign is clear: there is #NoExcuse for online abuse. The digital world was meant to expand the horizons of humanity; it is time we ensured it no longer serves as a cage for 1.8 billion women and girls. As we move forward, the goal is simple yet profound: a future where technology is a tool for liberation, and where the safety of a woman is not determined by whether she is standing in a physical room or a digital one.
The global community stands at a crossroads. We can continue to allow the digital realm to be a place of unregulated harm, or we can choose to build a digital architecture rooted in human rights. The tools for change—from the new legislative handbooks to the grassroots advocacy of the ACT programme—are already in our hands. What is required now is the political will to use them. Until every woman and girl can navigate the internet without fear, the promise of the digital age remains unfulfilled.
