Morocco’s appointment of Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri as the Arab world’s second female prime minister is a reminder of how women’s participation in public life continues to grow. However, as women take on greater roles in politics, business and society generally, the spaces in which they participate are not as safe as they should be.
That is one reason why the UAE’s Safe-T Initiative launched in Abu Dhabi this week should command attention beyond the technology sector. The programme was unveiled at the UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, and is under the patronage of Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Mother of the Nation and Chairwoman of the General Women's Union. It recognises that digital abuse is no longer just a problem of offensive social-media posts or individual behaviour.
Threats, blackmail, harassment and defamation can push women out of online spaces altogether. This has consequences well beyond the individual victim. Society as a whole loses when an entrepreneur stops promoting her business, an educator limits her public voice or a political candidate avoids campaigning because of online and often anonymous abuse.
The issue is particularly relevant in a region where women's participation in public and economic life is expanding. Sadly, this is often accompanied by cowardly and hateful attacks. Reports from Morocco's National Observatory for Protection Against Digital Violence have highlighted how at least 10 female candidates from different parties in the country's recent election were subjected to online attacks. Although this may seem a small number given that there were 2,658 registered female candidates, it remains 10 too many. According to regional studies by UN Women, about 60 per cent of female internet users in Arab states have experienced digital violence with high-profile women being 27 times more likely than men to face online abuse.
This problem is becoming thornier as technology advances. Deepfakes, manipulated images, synthetic voices and increasingly convincing fake identities are creating new ways to intimidate and discredit people, particularly prominent and outspoken women. The old response of simply reporting an abusive post is insufficient when increasingly sophisticated and targeted abuse now crosses platforms and jurisdictions.
Technology companies have a responsibility here; innovation cannot be separated from the risks it creates. The private sector, governments, law-enforcement agencies and civil society all have roles to play. The Safe-T framework launched in Abu Dhabi recognises this.
The initiative contains nine strategies that include digital literacy, stronger law enforcement, victim support and technology-sector accountability. That is an ambitious and comprehensive start, while the difficult part of implementation begins now. Stakeholders will ultimately be judged by results and how it can inform responses when a woman is threatened, blackmailed or impersonated online.
Simply put, women should not have to choose between having an online voice and operating in a safe environment. As more women take up high-profile and consequential roles in society and technologies become more sophisticated in their reach and anonymity, failing to prioritise this issue is not an option.
