(Ottawa) Authoritarian countries are exploiting social media to hinder the progress of women around the world, a Canadian special envoy said, as Ottawa updates its intergovernmental policy on gender equality.
Canada’s Ambassador for Women, Peace and Security, Jacqueline O’Neill, says these threats require advocates of gender equality around the world to work together.
Western countries must help counter the global trend of strongman leaders seeking to prevent women from playing a meaningful role in public life, she argued in a recent interview.
“Authoritarian governments severely suppress the space for communities to organize, for media to enjoy freedom of expression, and for women’s rights activists to continue their work,” said Ms.me O’Neill, who defends women’s rights abroad and in Canada.
She pointed to research, such as that of Harvard University professor Erica Chenoweth, that has shown how resistance movements are more successful when they include women in leadership and front-line positions.
In particular, governments are trying to stifle such opposition by using social media to support, disseminate and even finance a narrative according to which women’s rights are an import intended to challenge traditional values, detailed Mme O’Neill.
She calls it technology-facilitated gender-based violence. And women in Canada are no strangers to online harassment.
Last year, Governor General Mary Simon convened politicians, activists and journalists to strategize on how to deal with online attacks.
Global Affairs Canada has also started adding security spending to the grants it gives to human rights activists abroad, said Ms.me O’Neill, for everything from physical office locks to digital hygiene training so people can protect themselves online.
The ministry says Liberal ministers approved the third national action plan on women, peace and security in December.
The newly approved policy aims to provide guidance across government – from its approach to diplomatic summits to how it conducts national policing and welfare programs.
Although this has not been made public and Mme O’Neill said while she couldn’t share details, she suggested it would address online harm.
She stressed that this would also include considerations of how climate can affect women’s safety.
“We see many armed groups around the world taking advantage of climate change to recruit women into their forces [et] to kidnap girls and make them, in effect, sex slaves,” she said.
She noted that natural disasters and other climate emergencies, such as drought, can lead families to pull their daughters out of school so they can work or participate in forced marriages.
As part of his duties, Mr.me O’Neill was in East Africa last month to provide an update on the situation of women in countries that recently experienced conflict but have since lost global attention.
“We wanted to make them understand that they are now just as important to us and that we are equally committed,” she said.