Technology and digital tools are transforming everyday life, opening new opportunities for women and girls—but they are also being weaponized to harass, threaten, and silence them online. Technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (TF VAWG) is now a defining challenge for gender equality, closely linked to violence offline and shaped by deep-rooted discrimination.
This publication sets out UN Women’s approach to tackling this growing threat. Aligned with the UN Women Strategic Plan 2026–2029, this strategy positions TF VAWG as a core concern across all areas of UN Women’s work and explains how it fits within the wider violence-against-women continuum.
The strategy outlines a human rights–based, gender-responsive and -inclusive vision for safer digital spaces. It identifies key drivers and gaps—from harmful gender norms and under-regulation of technology, to limited data and services—and organizes UN Women’s response into five pathways for action:
- strengthening norms and standards;
- expanding data and evidence;
- transforming social norms and digital ecosystems;
- improving survivor-centred and justice-focused responses; and
- amplifying women’s voice, agency, digital resilience, and leadership.
Providing clear directions for global, regional, and country-level action, this strategy is a roadmap for UN Women and its partners to prevent and eliminate TF VAWG and to ensure that digital transformation advances, rather than undermines, the rights of women and girls.
