On Thursday 12 December, MEPs organised a hearing on the safety of women in the digital sphere. Conducted as part of the fifth edition of the European Gender Equality Week by the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), with the participation of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (ITRE), this session was opened by the Chair of the FEMM Committee, Lina Gálvez (S&D, Spanish), who stressed the importance of this hearing, in particular to address growing digital violence and its impact on women’s mental health, while calling for stronger legislative action to guarantee their safety in the digital world.
This was followed by a speech by the Chair of the LIBE Committee, Javier Zarzalejos, who shared his concerns about the dangers of digital technology, citing in particular the story of a Swedish teenager who was the victim of harassment via an online gaming application. In his view, every application and every game with a chat function carries the risk of exposing young girls to ill-intentioned individuals.
The first panel of speakers included Ines Marinho, president of the ‘Não Partilhes’ (‘Don’t share’) association, and Daša Malíková, founder of the Autonomous Women’s Organisation in Slovakia.
Ines Marinho recounted her personal experience of revenge porn, explaining: “When I was 13, I started being harassed online simply for talking about women’s rights. This quickly degenerated into requests for intimate photos, and deepfakes”.
She stressed the importance of regulating technology companies: “We must hold the major digital companies responsible for facilitating these crimes”.
For her part, Daša Malíková addressed the issue of ‘cyberstalking’ - online harassment - pointing out the devastating impact of this ever-growing phenomenon. She explained: “Cyberstalking allows abusers to follow their victims anywhere, with no geographical boundaries”. She added that this digital violence, whether public or not, has devastating effects on women’s lives.
Discussions then focused on the measures needed to enhance the safety of women online. Petra Kotuliakova, founder of the Slovakian NGO ‘Aj Ty v IT’ (‘You too in technology’), shared the efforts to educate young girls about digital tools, stressing: “If we start educating girls from an early age, we can change things for the future”.
Seyi Akiwowo, author and adviser on technological dangers, presented a framework for strengthening digital citizenship. She warned: “Technologies must not exacerbate existing inequalities”.
The MEPs present acknowledged the undeniable role of solid legislation, in particular the directive on gender-based violence, but pointed out that considerable efforts are still needed to ensure effective implementation and to protect women’s rights in the digital world. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)