Digital Abuse: 60,000 women are victims of online abuse over three years!
Digital abuse may feel like a new term, but the pain behind it is painfully familiar. We live in a world where one small device connects us to everything, yet for many women and girls, that same device has become a doorway to fear. What should have made life easier has turned into a source of harm. This is the silent epidemic that UN agencies and global experts keep warning us about, because online violence is spreading fast and hitting harder every day.
For women and girls, the internet too often becomes a battleground. Only those who have experienced it understand how one leaked photo, one hateful comment, or one anonymous threat can break someone from the inside. Digital abuse shows up in many forms, such as intimate photos shared without consent, aggressive messages, deepfake images created to humiliate and personal information leaked publicly. Doxxing, stalking and online surveillance are becoming frighteningly common. And what happens online rarely stays there, it spills into real life in the form of fear, isolation, harassment and long-lasting psychological harm.
In just three and a half years, 60,808 women sought help from Police Cyber Support for Women. Behind each number is someone who did not sleep, someone who felt ashamed, someone who had no idea where to go. Among these cases, 41 per cent faced doxxing, while hacking, blackmail, impersonation and cyberbullying made up the rest. Many women do not know the security basics for their devices or accounts. Many hesitate to tell their families. Many blame themselves long before they blame the abuser.
The problem becomes harder because perpetrators hide behind fake profiles or operate from outside the country. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram delay removing harmful content. Our laws exist, but not all forms of digital abuse are clearly recognised, especially now when AI is being used to spread harm in new, rapid and unpredictable ways. Victims are left struggling while their dignity is already under attack.
What often goes unspoken is how this violence quietly restricts the choices women can make about their own lives. When privacy is violated, when fear controls daily decisions or when shame forces someone into silence, every part of their wellbeing is affected. Safety and autonomy shape how freely a woman can learn, love, work or express herself. Digital abuse may happen on a screen, but its impact reaches the most personal corners of a woman’s life.
As we mark the 16 Days of Activism, this crisis demands our full attention. We cannot treat online violence as something temporary or distant. It is happening now, it is happening everywhere, and it is happening to people we know.
We need to create a safer digital world together. That begins with awareness, compassion and the courage to stand beside those who are suffering. It means demanding stronger laws, faster action from tech companies and more supportive systems for survivors. It means refusing to normalise online cruelty just because it happens through a screen.
During these 16 days, let us carry one promise forward: we will not allow digital spaces to become places of fear. Change will come only when we accept that this is a collective responsibility. Every act of solidarity, every voice raised, every moment of awareness helps push back the darkness. Let us stand together so that women and girls can reclaim the digital world as a place of safety, dignity and possibility.
Source: Daily Jugantor and UN Women.