Blog by Elizabeth Peterson, Soroptimist of the Americas North Atlantic Region Governor, Connecticut Shoreline Club
Ending Digital Gender-Based Violence
UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), 16 March 2026; panel by Asia Pacific Liberal Women Association with multiple regional speakers
The Asia Pacific Liberal Women Association convened around a central challenge of our time: how to ensure that the rapid expansion of digital technology advances human dignity rather than undermines it. At the heart of this effort is a commitment to equality, privacy, and safety—values that must coexist with, rather than be sacrificed for freedom. The discussion makes clear that justice in the modern era is no longer solely a legal or social issue; it is also deeply technological. As digital systems shape human interaction, they increasingly determine who is protected, who is exposed, and who is left behind.
Technology holds enormous promise. It can expand freedom, amplify voices, and connect communities across borders. Yet it also enables new forms of harm, particularly technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). Women, especially those from marginalised communities, are disproportionately targeted through cybercrime, harassment, and exploitation. Practices such as sextortion, often carried out through platforms illustrate how digital tools can be weaponised to blackmail and silence victims. Compounding the problem is a persistent culture of victim-blaming, which shifts responsibility away from perpetrators and discourages reporting and accountability.
The rise of deepfake technology, online death threats, and coordinated harassment campaigns demonstrates how truth-telling itself can become dangerous. In some contexts, these attacks intersect with broader patterns of repression, including surveillance systems that use facial recognition to target individuals based on ethnicity or political dissent. These tools, deployed by authoritarian regimes, reveal how digital innovation can be used not just for control, but for systematic discrimination and even genocidal efforts.
A key insight from these discussions is that digital environments are not neutral. “Every system produces the output it is designed to produce.” Today’s online ecosystems often reward conflict, outrage, and fear because these emotions drive engagement and clicks. This “engineering of hate” is not accidental; it is embedded in algorithms optimised for attention. As a result, toxic content is amplified, while safety and well-being are deprioritised. Over time, this creates social fatigue, as individuals, particularly women, face relentless digital attacks with little institutional support.
However, the same technological systems that enable harm can also be redesigned to prevent it. Prevention must become a priority, rather than an afterthought. This includes building friction into platforms that are the circuit breakers, safeguards, and “stoplights” in code. This software can interrupt harmful behaviors before they escalate. Instead of optimising solely for engagement, systems can be engineered to prioritise safety and human dignity. The goal is not to limit freedom, but to ensure that freedom and safety reinforce one another.
Governments and institutions have a critical role to play. TFGBV should be recognised as a serious public concern, requiring coordinated legal and policy responses. Integrating technology into the law is essential to closing gaps in accountability and protection. Without such action, victims are left to navigate the consequences of digital harm alone, reinforcing existing inequalities through new technological means.
Ultimately, this is a question of moral and political responsibility. The digital world we are building today will shape the experiences of future generations. As one participant noted, we would not accept a physical home without locks on the doors; we should not accept a digital one either. Ensuring that online spaces are safe, equitable, and just is not only a technical challenge – it is a defining issue of our collective future.
