IGF 2022 WS #431 Painting the Picture:Safety Frameworks for Leaders & WHRDs

Description:

This session delves into the forms of online violence Women leaders and Human Rights defenders face as a result of their work and by being women and minoritised groups online. Further, we draw out the implications of violence on the lives, and work of these groups, and share safety and security frameworks that consider both the technical, policy-oriented and designed based aspects to enable safety, security and accountability as a foundational practice among policymakers, technology designers and safety and security practitioners. The session is based on our Projects Violence Against Women Politicians in Uganda, VOTE: Women and (In)Visible Building on previous global gatherings as part of our movement-building using birds of a feather session approach we will reflect on and explore the challenges of WHRDs and tech companies as well as legislators/elected women officials in a safe-space setting and come up with recommendations for improved moderation and legislation. The three stakeholders are seldomly engaged directly in dialogue to enhance common challenges for human rights and democracy and therefore the session is a unique opportunity to obtain a deeper knowledge of the challenges and opportunities for all three actors to provide better online protection for all.
Everyone who uses social media deserves to know how it works. Pollicy will be sharing its flagship curriculum snippets to highlight the importance of building the capacity of women leaders in digital transformation policymaking. The Digital Leadership Curriculum by VOTE: Women covers the following topics digital safety, online campaigning, creative writing style, communicating with different audiences,
Conceptualizing Online Violence Technology facilitated violence is any form of online controlling behaviour that harms people based on their gender or sexual orientation. Such violence includes bullying, harassment, doxing, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, hacking and gendered disinformation. The effects and implications of online violence threaten women’s use and free expression on the internet. Meanwhile, for women leaders, violence also happens because of their public position thus limiting how they engage online. On the other hand, Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDS) face violence for being women and challenging oppressive systems and hegemonies. Both groups face threats for directly and indirectly defying patriarchal norms and systems, and the effects of these threats are both physical and psychological.
The Session With that established, the session asks the question of “how can platform, and policymakers centre the safety and security of minoritised groups to be able to use technology at its fullest potential?” We centre ‘minoritised’ communities within our main question because we believe that when technology and policy is designed and inclusive of the realities of marginalised communities, it intentionally and unintentionally addresses the harms they face.
In 2021 we marked a decade since the U.N. adopted a resolution advocating for greater participation of women in the political sphere. Since then, the number of women in formal politics has increased in the majority of countries. This session will explore how far women have come in changing politics in Africa, how much more needs to be done — and importantly, how women from all generations and walks of life can work together to make women in politics the norm whilst advocating for a safer internet.