The State of Evidence and Data Collection on Technology-facilitated Violence against Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women)

Online spaces and technology are important for women and girls in enabling connection, networks and access to information and services to grow creativity, prosperity, and leadership. However, the growing access, use, and reliance on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has created a context conducive to increased violence against women (VAW) in digital contexts and offline. Evidence shows that technology-facilitated violence against women (TF VAW) is a pervasive problem with disproportionate risks for some groups including young women and girls, women in politics, women journalists and women activists. However, the absence of agreed definitions and methodologies for measurement coupled with underreporting are a challenge for understanding the true prevalence of technology-facilitated violence against women. Global coordinated efforts to fill these gaps were called for in March 2023 by the UN Statistical Commission at its 54th session and by the Commission on the Status of Women at its 67th session.  To fill this gap, UN Women has initiated global consultations that have resulted in a common definition for data and measurement. The proposed definition builds on existing work conducted to measure and research technology-facilitated violence against women, through diverse methods and types of data, including national prevalence surveys, ICT surveys, and other survey, administrative and qualitative data. These initiatives were analysed in a scoping review on the state of evidence and data collection on technology-facilitated violence against women, with the objective to inform the current development of globally agreed methodologies.