EIGE: Combating Cyber Violence against Women and Girls
According to a study carried out in 2021 and 2022 by Valdani Vicari & Associati (VVA), in collaboration with the Centre for Strategy & Evaluation Services (CSES) and Milieu Consulting SPRL, published in the report ‘Combating Cyber Violence against women and girls’, Cyber violence against women and girls (CVAWG) is an emerging new dimension of gender-based violence.
Digital platforms represent a useful instrument to allow equal opportunities for public self-expression, regardless of one’s identity and status. At the same time, the digital arena has become a breeding ground for a range of exclusionary and violent discourses and beliefs, expressed and disseminated in a context of anonymity and impunity. Cyber violence can hit both women and men, however evidence shows that women and girls are highly exposed to it. Not only are they more likely to be targeted by cyber violence; they can also suffer from serious consequences, resulting in physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm and suffering. For this reason, women and girls often end up withdrawing from the digital sphere, silencing and isolating themselves and eventually losing opportunities to build their education, professional career and support networks.
By means of this study, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) aims to contribute to a better understanding of CVAWG to develop better informed and evidence-based policies and measures against CVAWG. In particular, EIGE aims to support EU institutions and all EU Member States in collecting more evidence on CVAWG, contributing to reaching the goal of having a regular collection of data across all EU Member States.
In order to achieve these objectives, this report presents an analysis of existing legal and statistical definitions of the different forms of CVAWG across all EU Member States and how to improve them, while promoting their use across all EU Member States. Clear and comprehensive definitions of CVAWG will enable the collection of reliable, disaggregated and comparable data on the phenomenon at national level. This will result in improved policymaking and overall responses by the relevant authorities, such as law enforcement agencies and victim support services.