The WPS Agenda and Tech-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence

Written By Kirthi Jayakumar

by Kirthi Jayakumar

The WPS Agenda was specifically conceptualized as a policy measure to address the gendered experiences of armed conflict. It called attention to the rampancy of systematic and strategic forms of conflict-related sexual violence, which until that point in time, was considered a by-product of war. It also made the case for increasing room for women to participate in post-conflict peace processes.

Technology has been a key component of armed conflict of any kind, particularly in the form of weapons, communications, and infrastructure for networking and connections. Rapid advancements in technology have transformed war at different points in time. With the emergence of AI and its military uses, armed conflict is also evolving, as also the nature of gender-based violence in conflict. Given the dual use nature of most technologies, technology shapes instances of gender-based violence in peacetime as well.

Applying the WPS Agenda to address emerging forms of tech-facilitated and tech-based gender-based violence can be helpful in addressing these issues (Baekgaard, 2024; Ferron, 2024). This article reflects on how emerging technologies exacerbate existing and unlock new forms of gender-based violence, and reflects on how the WPS Agenda can be used to address these harms without crossing into oversecuritization at the cost of meaningful gender justice. For the purposes of this article, “TFGBV” refers to the full spectrum of violence facilitated in cyberspace, including AI-based and AI-facilitated violence.

The Scale and Scope of TFGBV

The prevalence of TFGBV is staggering. Globally, 66 percent of women have reported experiencing TFGBV, including instances of cyber-harassment and stalking, doxxing, and image-based sexual abuse (GIWPS, 2024). TFGBV is not an isolated phenomenon that affects only certain populations, but is rather a widespread crisis impacting women and non-binary people across geographical, cultural, and socioeconomic boundaries. With newer forms of technology emerging, the severity of TFGBV grows. Currently, the emergence of AI tools has enabled the proliferation of doctored image-sharing, disinformation, trolling, slander, and deepfake campaigns that have specifically targeted women and non-binary people (de Silva de Alwis, 2024).

TFGBV is not a new phenomenon: It emerged along with the internet and communication streams (ICRW, 2019). Its roots lie in the overarching systemic, structural, and cultural factors that have historically normalised gender-based violence, and much like other forms of GBV, it produces significant harm. The digital / online medium offers both, a measure of anonymity and a sense of power, given the access to tools that make and spread violent content easily. This ease also unlocks the possibility of coordinated violence and harassment online, producing real-life effects. For instance, systemic disinformation campaigns targeting women or particular racial / caste / ethnic groups can manufacture public opinions that normalize hate targeting particular groups. Manifest calls for people to act on this hate can produce overt forms of violence. This impact renders the dichotomy between virtual and real harm redundant.

TFGBV also plays a catalytic role in silencing voices, particularly of women and non-binary people (Shukla, 2024). Targeted doxxing, harassment, and maligning campaigns, as well as efforts to produce reputational damage are often weaponized deliberately to silence women and non-binary people who speak out, hold positions of power and leadership, and who advocate for change. As a result, they step away from the digital space, leading to the exclusion of their voices, perspectives, and worldviews from these spaces.

Within the larger set of TFGBV, violence involving, perpetrated by, and exacerbated by the use of AI is significant. A study found that 98 percent of deepfake videos online are pornographic and that 99 percent of those targeted are women or girls, demonstrating that AI technologies are being systematically weaponized against women (Kira, 2024). According to the Sensity AI report, The State of Deepfakes 2019 Landscape, Threats, and Impact (Sensity AI, 2019), 96 per cent of deepfakes are used to create non-consensual sexual content. Of those deepfakes, 99 per cent were images of women.  AI systems are based on human data and are informed by the very biases that are embedded in our current social, political, and economic structures. The biases linked to gender roles and identities are ingrained in social programmes and services through automated decision-making, and produce impacts that contribute toward the entire spectrum of discrimination and violence ranging from stereotyping to outright violence.   

Addressing TFGBV through the WPS Agenda

The weaponisation of gendered narratives and the use of gendered disinformation, which are increasingly facilitated by digital, new and emerging technologies, are established tactics employed in hostile information strategies targeting social cohesion within democracies and aiming to increase polarisation. The inclusion of TFGBV within the WPS Agenda is essential because TFGBV has negative consequences for peace and security. It is a known strategy and is actively used by state and non-state actors alike. This recognition would elevate TFGBV from a women's rights issue to a national and international security concern.

However, care must be taken to avoid over-securitization and the appropriation of the overarching goal of gender justice. Over-securitization has the potential to normalize the militarisation of responses to security threats and breaches, the co-optation of state power, the perpetration of saviour narratives often on the grounds of femonationalist and homonationalist approaches, and the selective application of the WPS Agenda to specific forms of violence while ignoring structural, everyday forms of oppression that cause cumulative harm. Over-securitization also has a way of distracting from the broader goals of economic justice, bodily autonomy, reproductive rights, and the fundamental transformation of power structures by embedding accountability and care. Securitization cannot take away the agency of those most vulnerable to harm, and must not ignore or sideline root causes for gender-based violence. The goal is to look for transformation and not a re-entrenching of patriarchal tropes and militarized masculinities. In order to avoid over-securitization, relying on a strategic and critical engagement with the WPS Agenda as a security framework while insisting on transformation and not just protection and tokenized participation can go a long way.

References

Kirthi Jayakumar
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