Tuesday 25 November
16 Days of Activism 2025: Fighting to End Violence Against Women and Girls with Disability in the Digital Age
The United Nations global 16 Days of Activism to End Gender-based Violence campaign runs from Tuesday 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) until Thursday 10 December (International Human Rights Day).
This year's theme focuses on digital violence. As society's access and usage of digital technology expands, so do the ways that violence can be carried out or enabled through digital technologies and online spaces.
In Australia, PWDA stands with women and girls with disability, whose experiences of violence are shaped by overlapping forms of discrimination: gender, disability, and sometimes digital accessibility barriers.
Last year we focused on amplifying the voices of women with disability and the intersection of disability and gender based violence.
Here we explore what the 2025 theme means for women and girls with disability, what PWDA is doing to advocate for an end to violence against women and gender diverse people with disability and how everyone can play a part.
The 2025 Theme: "UNiTE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls."
The United Nations theme for 2025 is "UNiTE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls."
Violence against women and girls affects one in three women (WHO, 2021). This year's theme turns a spotlight on one of the fastest-growing forms of abuse; digital violence against women and girls.
The 2025 theme focuses on:
- recognising that digital violence is gender-based violence
- working towards technology as a means to reduce harm rather than increase it
- strengthening inclusive, accessible service responses
- promoting laws, policies and education that address online violence in all its forms.
For women and girls with disability, this means making sure digital safety tools, reporting systems, and online services are inclusive and accessible for them to use.
Digital abuse (also known as technology-facilitated violence) covers a wide spectrum of behaviours including image-based and deep fake abuse, online harassment, violent pornography, online grooming, doxxing, identity theft and technology-based abuse (using technology to stalk, monitor or harass you) to name a few.
This year's campaign is a reminder that digital safety is central to gender equality.
We all know that online spaces can feel like a double-edged sword. While they often create greater opportunity for people to find others with the same disability and access community that you may not find in person. However, there is an anonymity that these online spaces offer that can also create an increased opportunity for violence and abuse.
Ask any woman in the public eye and the horrific stories of abuse they often face. One in four female journalists and one in three female parliamentarians report online threats of violence and death threats.
