RightsCon Toronto 2018

This session will be an interactive, solutions-oriented panel discussion about strategies for understanding and effectively combating online violence against women in public life - particularly journalists and women in politics. Harassment and other types of violence against women online affects women in journalism and politically active women alike, and manifests in a variety of forms on almost every online platform available.Indeed, the media’s slow response to harassment of women within their own industry has arguably led to an inability to appropriately deal with the harassment of other women online - including politically-active women. For both women in politics and in journalism, there is often a lack if infrastructure - be it within political parties, from social media platforms, or on the part of media organizations - to address harassment and combat the problem of violence online. This can result in a chilling effect for women online, including through choosing not to participate in leadership or political debates, re-evaluating the types of journalistic beats they cover, deactivating or permanently deleting their online accounts, or even leaving their profession entirely. The resulting limitation of both the number of women able to participate and the range of issues discussed in politics and the media poses a fundamental challenge to democracy, progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as to the integrity of the information space.

The panel will engage experts across multiple sectors including civic technology, gender equality, and democracy and governance to discuss methods for building international understanding of this issue and identifying strategies for combating it. It will also include tangible examples from women in these sectors who have experienced this type of violence. A moderator will first introduce the issue of online violence against women in politics and in journalism, framing the issue for the audience and highlighting the key issues to be explored in the session. The moderator will then open the floor to allow each additional speaker to share their perspectives, experiences and approaches they have utilized through a series of guiding questions and facilitate a lively dialogue between the speakers and for frequent engagement with the audience. The goal is the participants will work together to (1) raise awareness of the prevalence and anti-democratic impacts of online violence against women in politics and in journalism; (2) foster knowledge- and idea-sharing among panelists and audience participants of the strategies for understanding, documenting, and combating this type of online violence; and (3) emerge with tangible takeaways and a framework for thinking about best practices to combat online violence across sectors.