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Online violence means real-world danger for women in politics like EU's Lucia Nicholsonová
Content Warning: This clip contains sensitive language.
In a compelling dialogue from a GZERO Global Stage discussion on gender equality in the age of AI, Lucia Nicholsonová, former Slovak National Assembly vice president and current member of European Parliament for Slovakia, recounts her harrowing personal experiences with disinformation campaigns and gendered hate speech online.
Ms. Nicholsonová read example messages she receives online, such as, "Damn you and your whole family. I wish you all die of cancer."
She also has faced false accusations of past criminal activity through deliberate online misinformation campaigns, which she says led to endured public humiliation and threats, even experiencing strangers spitting on her in the streets. These attacks were fueled by misogyny and prejudice and took a toll on her mental well-being and family life.
As Ms. Nicholsonová recalls, “It was a real trauma because I mean, at some point I wasn't able to go out of my home because I felt so threatened.”
The conversation was presented by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft and the UN Foundation. The Global Stage series convene heads of state, business leaders, technology experts from around the world for critical debate about the geopolitical and technology trends shaping our world.
Watch the full conversation here: What impact will AI have on gender equality?
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The online abuse crisis threatens the mental health of young women worldwide
In a GZERO Global Stage discussion from the sidelines of the United Nation's 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the pervasive issue of online abuse and harassment faced by young women was in the spotlight.
Michelle Milford Morse, the UN Foundation's Vice President for Girls and Women Strategy points out that “more than half of young women are experiencing some form of abuse and harassment online, sometimes as young as eight,” underscoring the urgent need for collective efforts to combat online abuse and create safer digital spaces for everyone, but especially women. Milford Morse points out the importance that we all work towards a future where everyone can thrive free from fear and harassment in both physical and digital environments.
The conversation was presented by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft and the UN Foundation. The Global Stage series convene heads of state, business leaders, technology experts from around the world for critical debate about the geopolitical and technology trends shaping our world.
Watch the full conversation here: What impact will AI have on gender equality?
What impact will AI have on gender equality?
At the current rate of progress toward gender equality, the World Economic Forum estimates it will take 131 years for women to attain parity in income, status, and leadership.
While technology is a powerful tool to help close the gender gap, it can also be weaponized. GZERO’s special presentation “Gender Equality in the Age of AI” featured candid conversations about the opportunities and threats that exist online, and how artificial intelligence will impact them.
Produced on the sidelines of the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the program featured leading experts from government, technology, and philanthropy. Moderator Penny Abeywardena, former NYC Commissioner for International Affairs, was joined by Jac sm Kee, co-founder of Numun Fund; Vickie Robinson, general manager of the Microsoft Airband Initiative; Michelle Milford Morse, the United Nations Foundation’s vice president for Girls and Women Strategy; and Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová, a member of the European Parliament from Slovakia.
“The beauty and the promise of digital technologies is the opening up of democratic and civic participation space,” said Jac sm Kee. “But what is happening right now is the direct closing down of these spaces through deliberate attacks.”
The discussion focused on three key areas: gender-based online violence, the need for greater digital inclusion and access, and increasing leadership roles for women in all aspects of public life.
In a recent study from UNESCO, 58% of women and girls surveyed globally said they had experienced online violence, defined as a range of abuses including harassment, stalking, and defamation. Female journalists and politicians experienced these threats in even higher numbers.
During GZERO’s program, European Union parliamentarian Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová shared incredibly disturbing messages she has received throughout her years in office, many including violent and profane language and graphic sexual threats.
“These words are real. The people who are writing these words are real,” Nicholsonová said. “We can erase them through algorithms online, but they will still exist. I think we really need to know what is out there because it's a real threat.”
Michelle Milford Morse of UN Foundation explained to the crowd gathered at the NYC event that these kinds of abuses have compounding impacts on victims. “More than half of young women are experiencing some form of abuse and harassment online, sometimes as young as eight,” she said. “I don't think that we're thinking enough about the accumulation of that over time and the real harm to their mental health.”
But technology, when used for good, is also a powerful tool that can help close the gender gap. Microsoft’s Vickie Robinson described the importance of connectivity and digital skills. Of the estimated 2.6 billion people worldwide who lack internet access, the majority are women and girls.
“It's critically important, now more than ever, we need to make sure that we close the digital divide once and for all, but that we bring along with that the skills, we make it affordable, we make it accessible,” Robinson said.
The conversation then turned to leadership, and the need for more women in positions of authority in all industries and sectors of public life.
“Parliaments and legislators that have more women, they prioritize social services for children and the most vulnerable. When they engage in peace agreements, those peace agreements last longer. They're more likely to protect biodiversity,” said Morse. “There is no argument for half our human family to be shut out of society.”
The program was part of the Global Stage series and produced by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft and the United Nations Foundation. The series features politicians, private sector leaders, and renowned experts in conversation about issues at the intersection of technology, geopolitics and society.
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Live premiere TODAY at 12 pm ET: Gender Equality in the Age of AI
WATCH OUR LIVE PREMIERE TODAY at 12 pm ET: In the age of generative AI, how can technology become a tool to create more opportunities for women and girls worldwide? What will it take to train more women to use AI to reach their economic potential, and ultimately greater equality? As AI innovation advances at a staggering pace, the widening equality gap threatens to erode progress. There is also a dark side — the alarming number of women who experience online violence.
In our next Global Stage discussion, presented by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft and the United Nations Foundation, our expert panel will discuss inclusive ways to make our digital lives safer and more productive. Today, Monday, March 18 at 12 pm ET, watch the live premiere of "Gender Equality in the Age of AI," taking place on the sidelines of UN Women’s 68th Commission on the Status of Women, a gathering of leaders from UN member states and NGOs focused on progress and equality.
Penny Abeywardena, Social Justice Advocate and Former NYC Commissioner for International Affairs, moderates the conversation with :
- Jac sm Kee, Co-Founder, Numun Fund
- Michelle Milford Morse, UN Foundation’s Vice President for Girls and Women Strategy
- Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová, Member of European Parliament, Slovakia
- Vickie Robinson, General Manager, Airband Initiative, Tech for Fundamental Rights, Microsoft
Monday, March 18, 2024 | 12 pm ET | 9 am PT
Watch at gzeromedia.com/globalstage
RSVP on LinkedIn Live, Facebook Live, or YouTube
More about Global Stage:
Global Stage: Global issues at the intersection of technology, politics, and societyyoutu.be
Freed Houthi prisoners stand as they wait to board an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)-chartered plane at Aden Airport, in Aden, Yemen.
Hard Numbers: Yemen prisoner swap, North Korea’s new missile, Germany ditches Russian imports, gender parity in Kiwi cabinet, Juice headed to Jupiter
900: In the biggest prisoner exchange in Yemen since 2020, 900 prisoners are expected to be swapped in the days ahead as part of ongoing talks between Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, and the Saudi-backed government. The confidence-building measure comes amid rising hopes that Yemen's brutal eight-year war might soon come to an end.
1,000: North Korea launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile test in a month, with some reporting that Pyongyang tested an advanced, harder-to-detect missile for the first time. Following a 1,000-kilometer flight (620 miles), the missile landed in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Japanese authorities on the northern island of Hokkaido urged residents to seek shelter.
91: German imports of Russian goods dropped by 91% during the first year of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Moscow had previously been the country’s 11th-biggest source of imports, but as a result of Western sanctions has since dropped to … 46th place.
10: Jacinda Ardern may have bowed out, but women leaders are getting ahead in New Zealand. For the first time, the country has gender parity in the cabinet. Thanks to a reshuffle by PM Chris Hipkins, there are now 10 women and 10 men in his cabinet.
8: Citing poor weather conditions, the European Space Agency has delayed the launch of a satellite to the planet Jupiter, an ambitious mission that will take eight years. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer project, dubbed Juice, aims to explore whether the fifth planet's major moons hold deep bodies of water. The agency will try again in the coming days.
GZERO celebrates International Women's Day
On International Women's Day, we’re proud to showcase just a few of the exceptional women we’ve interviewed on “GZERO World with Ian Bremmer,” our weekly program on US public television. The accomplishments of these remarkable women have made them role models globally. Click to watch our interviews with:
- Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist and women's rights activist, known for her campaign against the Iranian government
- Jennifer Granholm, the former Governor of Michigan and current US Secretary of Energy
- Alina Polyakova, a political scientist and foreign policy expert
- Nikole Hannah-Jones, a journalist and author who led the 1619 Project
- Jean Lee, a journalist who extensively covered North Korea and currently serves as the director of the Korea Program at the Wilson Center
- Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, a Belarusian politician and human rights activist who challenged the authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election.
- Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka, a South African politician and women's rights advocate and former Executive Director of UN Women
- Nancy Mace, the first woman to graduate from The Citadel military college and a Republican congresswoman from South Carolina
- Christine Lagarde, a French lawyer and politician who is currently serving as the President of the European Central Bank
- Maria Ressa, a Filipino-American journalist and CEO of the news website Rappler, known for her coverage of press freedom and the Philippine government's war on drugs
- Kaja Kallas, Estonia's popular centre-right prime minister, who won a sweeping election victory, receiving more personal votes than any politician in the country's history
The road to 2030
The past two years have brought devastating setbacks for global development goals including poverty reduction, gender equality, and climate action. GZERO Media will gather an expert panel of leaders from politics, the private sector, and international organizations to discuss how to get back on a path to greater peace and prosperity.
Join us on Thursday, December 15th at 11 am ET / 8 am PT / 5 pm CEST for a Global Stage livestream discussion, presented by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft. The conversation will be moderated by Julia Chatterley of CNN International, with Ian Bremmer, President and Founder of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media; Dr. Omnia El Omrani, Youth Envoy for COP27 and SDG Champion; Melissa Fleming, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications; Hindou Ibrahim, Co-Chair of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change; Khadija Mayman, Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative; and Brad Smith, President and Vice Chair of Microsoft.
The Road to 2030: Getting Global Goals Back on Track
Thursday, December 15, 2022 | 11:00am – 12:00pm ET
What We're Watching: EU sues Poland, pandemic widens global gender gap, Niger foils coup attempt
EU takes Poland to top court: In a significant escalation in the ongoing row between Brussels and Warsaw, the EU has referred Poland to Europe's top court, citing concerns over its undermining of judicial independence. Brussels has long expressed concern about the dilution of democratic norms under President Andrzej Duda and his ruling Law and Justice party, which came to power in 2015. Since then, Duda has given broad powers to the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court, which has purged and suspended Polish judges who are critical of government actions and cut the salaries of judges who oppose changes to the judicial system. Brussels has long been at loggerheads with member states Hungary and Poland, both of which are led by "illiberal" populists. This came to a head last year when Brussels included a provision in the bloc's pandemic recovery package that made disbursement of funds contingent on respecting EU rule-of-law norms.
COVID reverses gender equality progress: It's well established that the cultural and economic impacts of the pandemic have hit women particularly hard. Now, a new World Economic Forum report says that 2020 was so devastating for gender equality globally that it will likely take another 151 years — 36 more than estimated just 12 months ago — to close the global gender gap. Interestingly, the area where the gap grew the most — 2.6 percent — in 2020 is politics. While many countries made progress on women's political representation, those gains were overshadowed by the poor performance of a smaller group of economic heavyweights including China, India and Japan, which have poor records when it comes to female participation in politics. As women-led movements aiming to reshape politics around the world gather steam, we're watching to see whether such grassroots pressure will succeed in creating long term change.
More unrest in Niger: After gunfire was heard before dawn close to the presidential palace in Niamey, Niger's capital, the government swiftly declared it had foiled a coup attempt by several members of the army. The fresh wave of unrest comes just two days before the inauguration of newly elected President Mohamed Bouzom. Details of the attempted coup are sketchy, but at least some soldiers are not happy about Bouzom's runoff election victory over former president Mahamane Ousmane, who himself was toppled in a coup in the mid 1990s. Ousmane rejected the December results, citing vague allegations of fraud, and his supporters rioted on the streets of Niamey to show their outrage. The coup attempt raises fears of further political unrest in coup-prone Niger, which was looking forward to its first-ever peaceful transition of power after incumbent President Mahamadou Issoufou stepped down. This comes as Niger is also suffering a wave of attacks by jihadists, who will surely benefit from more political instability in one of the world's poorest countries. Will Bouzom, a former interior minister known for being tough on terror, be able to get the situation under control?