Across Africa, technology has become one of the most powerful equalisers of our time. It has expanded access to education, unlocked new forms of entrepreneurship, enabled civic participation and created pathways to economic independence for millions of women and girls.
From online learning platforms to digital marketplaces and remote work, technology has reshaped what opportunity looks like. Yet, alongside this promise, the digital spaces that should empower women and girls are increasingly becoming sites of abuse, intimidation, harassment and violence.
Technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (TFVAWG) is a growing threat to women’s safety, dignity, confidence and participation in Africa’s digital future. From cyberbullying and online stalking to non-consensual sharing of images, hate speech, impersonation, and coordinated digital attacks, African women and girls are being targeted.
These abuses silence voices, shrink participation, and force many women to retreat from spaces that should enable learning, leadership, and livelihoods. When women log off out of fear, Africa loses ideas, innovation, leadership, and economic potential.
Power Learn Project Africa (PLP), having trained more than 36,000 learners in the last five years, we hear from young women that digital harassment and online insecurity are among the biggest barriers.
Digital violence shapes who participate, who persists, and who ultimately thrives in the digital economy. This is why the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, marked annually from 25 November to 10 December, must fully recognise digital spaces as frontline battlegrounds. Violence has evolved, and so must our response.
In a continent that is young, rapidly digitising, and increasingly connected, ignoring online harm risks reproducing offline inequalities in new, more pervasive forms. Encouragingly, young Africans are not waiting for solutions to come from elsewhere.
This year, PLP partnered with UN Women ESARO to host a multi-country Digital Safety Hackathon across Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mozambique, and South Africa. Dozens of young women and men came together to design practical, locally grounded solutions addressing online harassment.
Among the innovations showcased were EveShield, a survivor support and reporting tool; DigitalSafe AI, an AI-powered digital literacy platform; SafeGuard, a browser-based safety layer; Imara, a secure evidence documentation tool; and MySpace, a survivor resource hub developed in Nigeria. These solutions send a powerful message that African youth understand the problem because they live it, and they are uniquely positioned to solve it. But innovation alone is not enough. Women and girls must also be emboldened to speak out and claim digital spaces.
When women share their experiences in solidarity and action by demanding accountability, and supporting one another online, they weaken the culture that allows abuse to thrive unseen. Crucially, men and boys must become active allies. This is not a ‘women’s issue, but a societal responsibility.
Governments must strengthen and enforce laws that recognise online abuse. Employers and educators must ensure that digital participation does not come at the cost of safety. As Africa accelerates toward remote work, freelancing, and digital innovation, one truth is clear, without safety, talent cannot grow. Violence against women and girls, offline or online, is a choice society makes when it fails to act. Respectful online behaviour, bystander intervention, and zero tolerance for abuse must become social norms reinforced at home, in schools, in workplaces and across digital platforms.
Africa’s digital future will be shaped not only by the technologies we build, but by the values we uphold. All of us, online and offline, must challenge abuse whenever and wherever we see it.
-The writer is Executive Director, Power Learn Project Africa
