WACC and the World Council of Churches (WCC) have launched a key resource to address tech-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) and are inviting individuals and groups to become part of a global movement taking action for gender justice online.

“Taking Action Against Tech-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence,” a new toolkit for trainers and advocates, offers a practical way to “raise awareness and move towards overcoming TFGBV,” which is becoming increasingly prevalent, Nicole Ashwood, WCC program executive for a Just Community of Women and Men, said at an online event today unveiling the resource.

“We are all at risk. TFGBV is no respecter of race, class or nationality, and it has consequences,” she observed.

A toolkit to collect “good data” on TFGBV

Indeed, TFGBV against women and girls is the “most pervasive form of human rights violation on the internet,” Sarah Macharia, WACC program manager for Gender and Communication, told participants.

She noted that such online violence has wide-ranging political, societal, psychological, and economic impacts, including the withdrawal and silencing of women. Women in the public eye, like journalists and politicians, as well as those in marginalized groups are particular targets.

This reality contrasts starkly with global policy objectives to promote gender justice such as the United Nations Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which commits to increasing women’s voices and participation in the media and new communication technologies, Macharia said.

She also pointed to the Global Digital Compact under development for the upcoming UN Summit of the Future that aims to foster an inclusive and open digital space that protects human rights.

“Commitments and aspirations on digital participation, digital inclusion, on closing the digital divide: they are dead in the water when violation of the rights of women and girls remains a defining feature of tech tools and tech spaces.”

However, reaching consensus on what TFGBV is and the impact it is having in order to take global action is a challenge, Macharia said, due to the inconsistent nature of evidence about the problem. Many studies exist but there is a wide variety in what is being studied and how, meaning it is virtually impossible to compare.

What is needed, she stressed, is “consistent data, good data” to drive policy change and create “evidence-based action plans.” The new toolkit, built on the methodology of WACC’s Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) in use for more than 25 years, enables the collection of good data in the social media sphere.

Monitoring for misogyny on X

Participants gained practical insights into how this good data collection works and how social media monitoring can build gender-focussed digital literacy through a presentation by Joan Sanyu Nankya of Uganda Media Women’s Association.

The WACC partner recently ran a project to promote responsible coverage of women and girls in Uganda news media on the social platform X, formerly Twitter.

UMWA monitored the X accounts of 40 women journalists, politicians, and civil society activists as well as those of media houses for misogynistic comments and posts about the women. The results were sobering, according to Nankya.

Tweets contained sexist stereotypes, objectification, body shaming, harassment, threats of violence, and remarks intending to dominate, discredit, and belittle the women. Women media professionals were targeted the most.

Male users were three times more likely to post misogynistic content than female users, Nankya reported. Shocking was the high number of misogynistic posts by Galaxy FM, a widely followed media outlet popular with young people.

The WACC partner pointed to the importance of manual media monitoring to catch misogyny in the form of microaggressions, which often fly under the radar of platforms’ moderation protocols.

While UMWA social media watchers did register threats of violence and sexual harassment, microaggressions made up nearly 90% of the misogynistic content in the tweets monitored.

“From derogatory language to targeted attacks on women’s credibility and competence, we uncovered a disturbing pattern of behavior that often goes unchecked,” Nankya quoted UMWA social media watcher Doreen Sampa.

Challenging as it was given the exposure to misogynistic content, the social media monitoring project provided concrete, evidence-based data that UMWA is using to advocate for change, Nankya said.

“The study results can prompt media houses to re-evaluate their social media practices and implement gender-sensitive guidelines,” she said, and pointed to the project report’s calls for action for media and a range of other stakeholders including government, civil society, donors, and media training institutions.

Invitation to become a social media watcher

The toolkit is about changing attitudes and practice, WACC Deputy General Secretary Sara Speicher said.

Toolkit users become aware of the reality of TFGBV and are trained in the practical action of social media monitoring, gathering evidence, networking and involving others for advocacy at the local and global levels.

Speicher noted that the new gender justice resource takes up the framework of a workshop in December 2023 that equipped a first cohort of trainers, ten young ecumenical leaders who are introducing social media monitoring in their own communities.

“Taking Action Against Tech-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence” is part of a joint WACC–WCC initiative to build a global gender-focussed observatory of social media where all are welcome to participate, Speicher said.

“Download the toolkit. Pull together a group,” she urged and invited registration for a virtual training session that WACC will be holding on 2 October to give toolkit readers added confidence in using the social media monitoring methodology introduced in the resource.

Through the global gender-focussed observatory of social media, we can provide evidence for policy advocacy and hold platforms and duty-bearers to account, Macharia said.

“You have the power to make a difference and to change the narratives of oppression that gender-based violence perpetuates,” affirmed social media watcher Emma Rahman.

Clockwise from upper left: Sarah Macharia, Joan Sanyu Nankya, Nicole Ashwood, Sara Speicher.