Gender-based violence is a phenomenon deeply rooted in gender inequality and continues to be one of the most notable human rights violations within all societies.
Gender-based violence refers to harmful acts directed at a person based on their gender. Both women and men experience gender-based violence but the majority of victims are women and girls. Indeed, one in three women in the EU experiences physical and/or sexual abuse since the age of 15.
With the development of online technologies, gender-based cyber violence has become the most common form of an aggressive act perpetrated through electronic communication and the internet. Cyber violence is a form of discrimination and negatively impacts the enjoyment of human rights.
Cyber violence includes but is not limited to online harassment, threatening, bullying, blackmailing, unwanted sexting, stalking, hate speech, luring, non-consensual sharing of images, recording and distribution of sexual assault.
Around 27 per cent of EU citizens in the 16–29 age group reported that they experienced cyber harassment in the five years before the 2019 survey conducted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). Moreover, research shows that women and girls are more likely to be victims of cyber violence.
Indeed, just as women and girls are more likely to be at risk of more types of violence than men and boys in the physical world, so are they in the digital space. Around 12 per cent of 15-year-old girls have been cyberbullied by messages at least once compared to seven per cent of boys.
The responsive coping strategies of girls and boys are different when it comes to their behaviour in the online world. Meghan Lefeber, senior economic and private capital advisor at USAID, stated that “gender-based violence and cyber harassment online is a huge issue ..
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