Pain Points in Understanding Online Gender-Based Violence
The power of data in informing responses to and helping to prevent GBV cannot be overstated. More than just numbers, accurate gender data can allow for a more in-depth understanding of the severity, frequency, and forms of violence, and identifying those most at risk as well as the common perpetrators. It can pinpoint where violence occurs and assess the impact on the lives of survivors' and societal well-being.
As the use of digital technology in even the most basic tasks of our day-to-day lives soars, a relatively new form of violence−technology-facilitated GBV (TF-GBV)−is, unfortunately, becoming commonplace.
A 2024 study of five countries in sub-Saharan Africa found that 28 per cent of women had experienced online violence while a recent UNFPA-University of Nairobi study showed that a whopping nearly 90 per cent of young adults enrolled in Nairobi’s tertiary institutions have witnessed TF-GBV, with 39 per cent having experienced it personally. A UN Women study found that 60 per cent of women internet users in Arab States had been exposed to online violence.
While there is growing interest and research, comprehensive data on this form of GBV is hard to come by, including in the global south where gender statistics systems are still being developed.
Indeed, the overall availability of gender data tends to be strongly influenced by the availability of funds with which to build and sustain gender data systems. November 2024 data from UN Women’s Gender Data Outlook shows that countries with reliable domestic funding for gender data perform up to 60 per cent better in terms of data accessibility.
The data finds that although sub-Saharan African has made great strides in the production of gender data in the past few years, 41 per cent of the data needed to monitor progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG5 on gender equality and women’s empowerment, is still missing.
In the case of TF-GBV, comparable, reliable data on its prevalence, forms, impact, and drivers is limited across different global regions and social intersections such as race, religion, and disability and migration status. Further, data on the links between online and offline violence is scarce, although we know from many women’s experiences that such links exist.
Gender Data in Humanitarian Contexts
Whether triggered by conflict, natural disaster, or public health emergency, humanitarian crises disproportionately impact women, girls, and marginalized groups, placing them at increased risk of violence. The oft-cited statistic that one in three women and girls globally (30 per cent of women aged 15 to 49 years), has experienced physical or sexual violence in her lifetime, rises to an alarming 70 per cent in humanitarian contexts. Still, given the challenges of collecting data in these contexts, this may still likely be an underestimate of the true magnitude of violence against women and girls in humanitarian settings.
Challenges and resulting gaps notwithstanding, in recent years, there has been progress in collecting gender data in crisis settings. For instance, in the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it is estimated that over one million women have suffered from rape, with 52 percent of women experiencing domestic violence. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, reports of GBV surged with the national GBV hotline, supported by UNFPA, recording 1,515 calls and online requests in just three weeks.
UN Women data from Sudan published in September 2024 finds that the ongoing war has resulted in the largest internal displacement crisis in the world with catastrophic impacts on women and girls not least of all, a more than doubling in rates of GBV. According to the data, by December 2023, more than 6.7 million women, girls, boys, and men were already in need of GBV services, up from 3.1 million before the conflict began. The figure is likely to be much higher now with the protracted crisis. While men and boys in Sudan are also victims of GBV, most of the cases involve women and girls.
The figures signal and reinforce that GBV is a pervasive and urgent issue that must be systematically addressed by humanitarian actors, and that data should ultimately help shape the development of evidence-driven interventions in each country.
