Blog by Margaret Daly, SI Communications Manager
The CSW69 event, “The Changing Face of Violence,” focused on online violence against women and girls. In 2025, 30 years after the 4th World Conference on Women, achieving gender equality is more urgent than ever due to the global polycrisis and rising opposition to women’s rights.
Opening remarks – Romania’s commitment to gender equality
Mr. Simion-Adrian Purza, Human Rights Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Romania to the UN, opened the discussion by emphasising the urgent need to strengthen global efforts for gender equality. He highlighted the rising global pushback against human rights and stressed the importance of collaboration among governments, civil society, the private sector, and international organisations. Speaking as a father, he stressed the significance of these efforts for future generations.
Mr. Purza also noted Romania’s commitment to gender equality, including its adherence to the Council of Europe’s Gender Equality Strategy 2024–2029 and its national strategy to combat domestic violence. He pointed out the disproportionate impact of technology on women and girls, including cyberstalking and online abuse, and called for innovation, stronger regulations, and better digital access and education. Lastly, he advocated for the involvement of men and boys as allies in challenging harmful masculine norms and promoting gender equality for all.
Bearing witness
Ms. Anne K. Ream, a writer, activist, and Co-Founder of the Center for Story and Witness, has spent the past 20 years creating spaces for survivors of gender-based violence to share their voices. Her organisation provides trauma-informed writing workshops for survivors and narrative advocacy training for organisations.
She highlights the power of storytelling, explaining that stories humanise issues, reveal the human cost of violence, and inspire others. She argues that storytelling is often more impactful than statistics in changing hearts and minds.
Ms. Ream highlights the increasing importance of sharing the stories of women and girls facing violence, particularly amid rising misogyny and anti-democratic movements. While sharing stories makes survivors vulnerable, she stresses the need for ethical storytelling, ensuring that the survivor experience is respected. Anne advocates for providing spaces where survivors can reflect on how they wish to share their stories and acknowledges the need for strategic, ethical, and invested approaches to storytelling.
Her organisation connects stories to broader audiences via performances, publications, and campaigns, viewing storytelling as a crucial component in the movement to end violence against women and girls. She ended with a powerful message: “bearing witness can be beautiful.” In the end, our stories are our strength. They have the power to change minds and hearts.
Fighting FGM
Dr. Nina Smart, an advocate for women’s rights and survivor of FGM, is dedicated to raising awareness and ending the harmful practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). She explains that FGM is culturally accepted in many regions, with women often revered for performing the procedure. FGM affects over 500,000 girls in the U.S. and over 190,000 in Europe. In Sierra Leone, FGM is part of a secret society initiation, where powerful women known as Soweis perform the procedure.
Dr. Smart promotes offering alternatives and educating Soweis about the harms of FGM, advocating for financial support through alternative livelihoods like farming. She also highlights the role of men, particularly politicians, in addressing the practice, and suggests replacing FGM with a harmless symbolic gesture. Her key message is “education, not mutilation.” She also recognised the “Soroptimist Six” for their work in advocating against FGM.
The problem with AI
Ms. Gail Dekreon is a semi-retired Superior Court Judge who has dealt with issues of cyber security. As a longtime advocate for women’s rights, shel is knowledgeable about the implications these issues may have on the lives of women and girls.
Ms. Dekreon discussed the origins of AI and its negative impact on women and girls, particularly in healthcare. She noted that women have been historically excluded from clinical trials, resulting in a lack of relevant data for women’s health, an issue only recently addressed. AI also suffers from gender bias due to biased training data, limited diversity in development teams, and societal stereotypes, which perpetuate discrimination as AI models learn from historical data.
Women make up only 22% of the global AI workforce, and virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri, using female voices, reinforce gendered expectations. AI has also led to job losses for women and can contribute to their dehumanisation. Ms. Dekreon stressed the need for more female participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to address these issues and stressed the importance of ensuring women’s safety from digital abuse.
She advocated for more inclusive AI to address gender disparities, recommending diverse datasets, transparent algorithms, and developing inclusive teams. Key strategies for gender equality in AI include increasing female participation in STEM, supporting women in AI careers, reducing bias and promoting female leadership. These efforts aim to create a fairer AI environment that benefits all genders and provides greater opportunities for women and girls.
What is TVFBVG?
The term “TVFBVG” (The Virtual and Online Violence Against Women and Girls) refers to digital abuse, such as cyberstalking, online harassment, revenge porn, doxxing, and sexual exploitation. This type of abuse, exacerbated by social media and digital platforms, violates privacy and causes emotional harm. Governments, organisations, and tech companies are working to address this issue through better laws, reporting systems, and victim support. However, ongoing efforts are necessary to ensure women’s safety online, especially for those in public life, such as politicians and activists, who are often targeted.
The human cost of online harm – a Canadian perspective
Bonita Zarrillo was first elected as the Member of Parliament for Port Moody–Coquitlam in 2021. In her previous roles, she has served on multiple nonprofit boards advocating for gender identity and equality.
Ms. Zarrillo highlighted the tragic case of Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old from Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, who was cyberbullied and tragically took her own life. Amanda’s mother, Carol, now works tirelessly to advocate for online safety for women and girls.
She also discussed the controversial new Online Harm Bill in Canada, which some see as a threat to freedom of speech. While parents support the bill for its protective measures, it has faced opposition, and the government ultimately failed to push it through, resulting in the loss of this legislation.
Ms. Zarrillo noted the personal risks of speaking out on issues like online harm. Despite advocating for change, she remains cautious about her own online presence, particularly on local social media involving children and her staff.
The Convention against Cybercrime
Linda Witong is a retired prosecutor who is currently an Advocacy Advisor and Representative to the UN for Soroptimist International and she spoke about The Convention against Cybercrime. It addresses several issues that impact women and girls. The treaty’s preamble underscores the importance of mainstreaming gender equality, which is a positive step forward. However, there are missed opportunities in certain areas.
For example, Article 15 addresses grooming and solicitation, mentioning children but not specifically referencing girls. Similarly, Article 14 covers online child sex abuse and the distribution of abusive material, but it does not specifically mention women or girls. This oversight is notable, especially given the critical importance of gender equality in combating cybercrime.
Soroptimist International Europe’s campaign
Rita Nogueira Ramos, Vice President of Soroptimist International Europe (SIE), leads advocacy efforts for women’s rights and gender equality. She highlighted the escalating issue of cyber violence against women, pointing out that 95% of deepfakes are used for misinformation or fraud. SIE’s “Read the Signs” campaign educates the public on cyber violence and its detrimental impact on mental health, urging awareness, reporting, and mutual support.
Rita emphasised the staggering economic cost of gender-based violence, estimating it at €366 billion annually in the EU. She stressed the need for stronger accountability and better reporting mechanisms, referencing the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which mandates platforms to remove harmful content and safeguard users. Rita urged that the worsening issue of online violence must remain a top priority for action.
SIE’s campaign defines cyber violence and promotes online safety, respectful behavior, and mutual support, using social media, posters, and videos to spread the message. Rita shared national initiatives such as Bulgaria’s influencer engagement, Germany’s legal webinars, and Portugal’s educational book for transforming online behavior, alongside efforts in Sweden, Greece, Belgium, and Turkey to raise awareness and promote safety.
Rita cited Professor Olga Jurasz, a scholar in international law and human rights, who highlighted the link between online and offline violence. Cyber violence often isolates women and worsens their mental health, with harmful content spreading quickly and amplified by algorithms. Anonymous perpetrators make it harder to trace the violence. Rita concluded by stressing the urgency of addressing online violence as its visibility and frequency continue to rise.
Conclusion
The Revd. Liberato C. Bautista, President of CoNGO, an international NGO with UN ECOSOC consultative status delivered the concluding remarks. He stressed the ongoing urgency of achieving gender equality, 30 years after the Beijing Platform for Action. He highlighted the worsening impact of online violence and called for safer technology and better protection for women and girls. Bautista referenced a joint statement by Soroptimist International and CoNGO, urging governments to ensure the safety of women and girls in the digital world, while addressing the risks of AI misuse. He noted the need for equitable digital access as a tool for empowerment and called for greater vigilance to protect progress in the face of global challenges. In conclusion, he emphasised that the vigilance of civil society is essential to protect progress made so far.