Changing the narrative

It is essential to develop a new narrative that shifts the onus of responsibility from survivors to perpetrators and accountable institutions.

‍Problem

OGBV often leads to self-censorship and silencing among the women and gendered minorities targeted. In this way, it ends up hurting democracy as a whole, since women and LGBTQI+ minorities are excluded from the political debate.

However, in the public narrative, the onus is often being put on survivors of OGBV to better protect themselves, instead of holding perpetrators to account and recognizing the wide-reaching impact of OGBV on individuals and society.

OGBV is a tool to silence women and minoritized genders and has a real impact on the personal and public lives of those targeted.

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Solution

A new narrative that shifts the onus of responsibility from survivors to perpetrators and accountable institutions and that recognizes OGBV as a threat to democracy and other human rights agendas with real consequences to individuals’ lives.

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Approach

In developing new narratives, we need to consider that some existing international narratives on OGBV have further marginalized women. For example, women journalists are now often being seen as a liability by potential employers given the prevalence of OGBV.

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Impact

A new narrative that highlights the wide-reaching impacts of OGBV on society and democracy more generally will encourage engagement from governments, digital rights movements and tech companies, and help to reduce victim-blaming culture.