16 Days of Activism: Safe digital spaces for women and girls in Pakistan shrinking.

While digital technology and social media has the power to connect people and even enable the germination of social movements such as #MeToo which can drive action in the real world, that change is slow and a lot of women either find themselves locked out of these spaces because of harassment or threat of violence.

This was stated by, Department for International Development (DFID) Pakistan Head Joanna Reid and Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) Executive Director Nighat Dad on Thursday.

Reid said that the '16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV)' is an international campaign which starts on November 25 (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls) and ends on December 10 (International Human Rights Day). This year the United Nation (UN) selected the theme #HearMeToo.

The DFID head said that the theme had been selected in recognition of the attention and action which has been galvanised by online social movements and activism around GBV such as #MeToo, #TimesUp and #NotOneMore.

'It is simply not acceptable that 40 per cent of women in Pakistan have experienced online harassment,' she said while referring to a research conducted by the DRF in 2017.

'We cannot allow the internet to be a space where misogynistic views and behaviours fester, a place where democratic freedoms are curtailed rather than fostered,' Reid said.

She continued by stating that the transformative potential of access to digital technologies can help Pakistan unlock its own potential and strengthen accountability, but only if everyone feels safe in their digital space.

'Government, citizens, civil society, the media and the private sector must come together to make this happen,' she said.

'Did you know that 60 per cent of young people in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) have access to the internet? That is an amazing number and we could leave our positive feelings at that,' Reid said as she asked, 'But what kind of digital space do they find? What kind of digital space should they have?'

Reid continued that she has only dipped her toe into social media; 'I tweet, but I don't 'do' Facebook or Instagram, anything which draws attention to my personal life. Why not? I do confess to being a digital dinosaur but to be honest, I'm also a little scared of...