City Research Online

Abstract

Online violence is an escalating threat to women’s participation in public life and democratic deliberation in the AI Age, especially in the context of rising authoritarianism, increased repression of women’s rights organizations, and networked misogyny. It is designed to stymie women’s freedom of expression and part of a burgeoning strategy to roll back their hard-won right to gender equality and empowerment. New data from a UN Women-comissioned survey of women in the public sphere, focused on women human rights defenders, activists and journalists, demonstrates the scale of the problem and the function of artificial intelligence technologies in its manifestations. It also highlights an alarming trend in the trajectory of online violence to offline attacks, abuse and harassment, proving that there is nothing virtual about online violence.

Publication Type:	Report
Additional Information:	© 2025 UN Women. This work is available open access by complying with the Creative Commons license created for inter-governmental organizations, available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/.
Departments:	School of Communication & Creativity School of Communication & Creativity > Department of Journalism
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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