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Digital Gender Gap Audit Scorecard Toolkit

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a historic opportunity to halt and reverse growing digital inequality byturning political commitment into concrete interventions. With respect to digital equality, the SDGs commit UN member states to:●●●enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology (ICT), to promote theempowerment of women (SDG 5b);achieve universal, affordable Internet access in least developed countries by 2020 (SDG 9c); andensure equal access to basic services [and] appropriate new technology for all women and men by 2030 (SDG 1.4).

As web-enabled ICTs become increasingly central to all aspects of everyday life, integrating women’s perspectives in all aspectsof policy and outreach becomes a major cause for attention.
In order to turn the SDG pledges into action it is critical that digital equality, women’s rights, and digital rights advocates are able
to present policymakers and the private sector with clear, evidence-based policy recommendations, and to monitor progress
towards implementation and impact.

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The aim of this toolkit is to...
●Introduce the Digital Gender Gap Audit Scorecard to stakeholders●

Encourage use of the Scorecard as a tool to:○ develop evidence and monitor country progress towards closing the digital gender gap; and○ support the development and implementation of policy measures to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) on women and technology, including:■ Goal 1.4: Ensure equal access to basic services [and] appropriate new technology for all women and men
by 2030;■ Goal 5b: Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology(ICT), to promote the empowerment of women;■ Goal 9c: Achieve universal, affordable Internet access in least developed countries by 2020;●

Provide a source of information and resources about global frameworks, SDG commitments and targets related to:
■
■
■
■
■

Internet Access and Women's Empowerment
Affordability
Digital Skills and Education
Relevant Content and Services for Women
Online Safety3

Data for Gender-Responsive ICT Policy
Governments have a long road ahead to achieve SDG commitments on ​ensuring equal access to new technology for all womenand men by 2030, and leveraging ​ICTs to empower women. Although nearly every woman we surveyed in our ​Women’s Rights
Online (2015) research owned or had access to a phone, the ICT revolution ​is not yet transforming their lives. Recent data fromthe International Telecommunications Union (2016) reveals that the digital gender gap ​is actually increasing​ in size.
ICT policies can and must address growing digital gender inequality for women to participate and be heard in the digital
revolution, yet a majority of countries’ ICT strategies and policies remain gender-blind. Of the ten countries reviewed in the firstphase of our ​Digital Gender Gap Audit (2016), only four (Colombia, Nigeria, India, and Ghana) have national or sub-national
policies to encourage increased access, training, and use of the web by women and girls. But in many of these cases (​as in othercountries reviewed​), no official, concrete targets exist. A report by the ​Broadband Commission’s Working Group on Genderfound that a vast majority of National Broadband Plans fail to include gender targets (2013).
Furthermore, it is nearly impossible to track progress. ​Despite the opportunities that exist for implementing policies to support
women’s rights on and through the web, there is very little statistically relevant data on women and ICTs, and none of the major
gender equality indices incorporate ICTs. When ICT data excludes data o​n women specifically, women’s social realities become
ignored in data and in policy (Hafkin 2002, Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development 2014). ​Currently, only ​69 countries
submit gender-disaggregated data on Internet access to the UN agency responsible for tracking this indicator (the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU)). The ITU has no gender-disaggregated data at all on other important ICT indicators. As notedby the ​Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development​, “Aggregate data collection masks gender differences, which implies thatwomen’s realities remain unrecorded and are ignored, not only in statistics but also in policy”. This has to change. SDG 17
commits governments to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely, and reliable gender-disaggregated data​.
Technology has an ​increasingly vital role in achieving all SDG targets​, ​facilitating access to information and public
participation.As the importance of access to and use of ICTs grows, so too does the need — and urgency — to collectgender-disaggregated data on whether and how women are accessing and using these technologies. Without this data,measuring and achieving meaningful progress will remain impossible.

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Resources: How to make ICT policy gender-responsive?
-

Alliance for Affordable Internet: Affordability Report:
http://a4ai.org/affordability-report/report/2015/#gender_inequality:_exacerbating_affordability_challenges
ITU Partnership for Measuring ICT for Development: Measuring ICT and Gender:
http://www.uis.unesco.org/Communication/Documents/measuring-ict-and-gender.pdf
Broadband Commission Working Group on Gender:
http://www.broadbandcommission.org/documents/working-groups/bb-doubling-digital-2013.pdf
UNCTAD: Empowering Women Entrepreuners through ICT:
http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/dtlstict2013d2_en.pdf
World Wide Web Foundation: Women’s Rights Online: Translating Access Into Empowerment:
http://webfoundation.org/docs/2015/10/womens-rights-online_Report.pdf
World Wide Web Foundation: Gender Digital Divide Audit Scorecard:
http://webfoundation.org/about/research/digital-gender-gap-audit/
Women in Gender, Science and Technology (WISAT): ​Gender and ICT Statistics: the Policy Perspeciive:
http://wisat.org/data/documents/FINAL-Rev.-NH-10th-WTIM-gender-ICT-policy-perspective.pptx
Nancy Hafkin: Gender Issues in ICT Policy in Developing Countries (see Table 1, page 12):
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/ict2002/reports/Paper-NHafkin.PDF
UN Women & ITU Action Plan to Close the Digital Gender Gap:
https://www.itu.int/en/action/gender-equality/Documents/ActionPlan.pdf

5Digital Gender Gap Audit Scorecard
To help ensure that there is sustained pressure for the implementation of policy to achieve the SDGs on women and technology,
the World Wide Web Foundation developed a ​Digital Gender Gap Audit Scorecard, with support from UN Women. This
Scorecard aims to fill the evidence gap in assessing the digital gender divide by bringing together 14 simple indicators for which
reliable empirical evidence exists. Looked at collectively, these indicators can be used to measure country progress towards
closing the digital gender divide in the interim until national gender and ICT indicators are developed and data is regularlycollected to monitor women’s Internet access, use, and digital empowerment. The Scorecard is intended to be a simple,
user-friendly tool which aggregates ​existing secondary data and ​proxy indicators ​to ​monitor government commitments andimplementation of gender-equitable ICT access and digital equality online.
The results of the Scorecard are intended to be used as a starting point for broad national, regional and global consultations. By
providing proxy indicators for data which is otherwise largely unavailable at the national and global levels, the Scorecard isintended to be used to ​hold governments accountable for progress on the SDG gender and ICT targets​, by monitoring
country-level policy commitments, implementation and outcomes on an annual basis.
The Scorecard can also be used to ​identify evidence gaps where data on women and ICTs is missing or not publicallyavailable​, despite national commitments to monitor related indicators as part of SDG commitments. Evidence of missing data
provides a “Red Flag” on the need for the country to urgently develop and implement a strategy to collect national data on thatindicator, and to report data to global bodies like the ITU and UNESCO.
The Scorecard is an “open source” framework which may be further adapted based on indicators and data that are relevant tonational and local contexts.
Our inaugural Digital Gender Gap Audit, released in September 2016, covers 10 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
More information and country specific findings can be found here:
http://webfoundation.org/about/research/digital-gender-gap-audit/

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Digital Gender Gap Audit Scoring Process:
Review and score indicators● The Scorecard is based on available secondary data sources and expert assessment methodology. It is informed bybackground desk reviews and key informant interviews.
● Each indicator is scored by an expert reviewer on a scale of 0 - 10​. The scoring criteria was developed so the specificbenchmarks for a score of 0, 5 and 10 are comparable across all indicators. 1 ​ ​Each indicator is weighted the same; allindicators are assigned equal value.
● In cases of missing data for an indicator, that indicator would not be included in the Scorecard. Therefore, missing data
does not negatively impact scores but rather signals a “red flag” on the need to collect data on that indicator. The
indicator is included once data is available.
● Once a first reviewer has scored the indicators, a second expert reviewer (and third if possible) should check scores andjustifications, probing for further justification where the case for a score is not strong or where evidence is missing.
Calculate thematic sub score● Take an average of the scores in each of the five themes for ​thematic sub-scores.
Calculate country score● Take an average of scores across ALL indicators for the ​country score ​(note that it is not an average of thematic
sub-scores).
The Scorecard is based on a total of 14 indicators across five themes:
1.

1Internet Access &Women’s
Empowerment

2.

Affordability

3.

Digital Skills &Education

4.

Relevant Content& Services for
Women

5.

Online Safety​A score of 10 would imply virtually no room for improvement, which is not likely to be the case in the large majority of countries. Similar due careshould be exercised when allocating a score of 0 for an indicator. In both cases, the evidence needs to be very strong in support of scores at theextremes (10 and 0).

7Gender Digital Divide Audit Scorecard
Indicator

Source

Notes

Internet Access and Women's Empowerment

Scoring Criteria
For a score of 0

For a score of 5

For a score of 10

National
ITU gender and ICT data The newly developed ITU
No
ICT data on Internet Sex-disaggregate
collection andindicator on 'proportion of
sex-disaggregate users is
d ICT data isreporting ofORindividuals owning a mobiled ICT data isdisaggregated by sex collected andsex-disaggregate
phone, by sex' was approved systematicallybut it may not be
available from thed ICT data
Data available atby the World
collected at thereadily accessible
national statistical
National Statistics
Telecommunication/ICT
national level (on online or throughoffice or any other
Offices (NSOs) on
Indicators Symposium (WTIS) an annual basis), national
government
Internet users,
2014. ​It is the indicator
nor is it available departments.
source on female
disaggregated by gender assigned to ​SDG Target 5b​:from the national
Internet users,
Enhance the use of enablingstatistical office or
female mobile
technology, in particular
any government
phone ownership
information andsource.
or women's
communications technology, toempowerment
promote the empowerment ofand ICT themes.
women.
Sex-disaggregated data for thisindicator should be collected at
the national level starting from2015 through an annual
questionnaire that ITU sends tonational statistical offices(NSO). A definition of the8

Indicators assigned to 5b ishere​.
For a score of 0

Existence in
Web Index (2014)​ as anational ICT
baseline ​—​ with new
strategies orexpert assessment
broadband plans review
of cleartime-boundtargets toovercome genderand poverty
divides in Internet
use, and provisionof budget for
implementation

For a score of 5

Our Web Index (2014) research There is very little, There may beshows that many national plans if any, discussion sub-national and/or
or strategies include aat any level ofnational policies
rhetorical commitment togovernment about encouraging
gender equity, but fail tothe need toincreased access,translate this into concrete,encourage greater training and use ofmeasurable targets backed by access to and use the web by womenresources. Only 30% of theof the web by
and girls, but no
Web Index countries score
women and girls, official national
higher than a five out of ten for or of increased
concrete targets
implementing concrete targets training in how to exist. In the absence
for gender equity in ICT access use the web forof a national target,
and use.
women and girls. there may be public
There are norecognition from aA report by the ​Broadband
related concretesenior government
Commission’s Working Group policy targets and figure (e.g. Cabinet
on Gender ​(2013) found that a budget allocations minister) and/or
vast majority of National
at all.
parliamentarians
Broadband Plans fail to include
encouraging greater
gender targets.
female access to theweb.

For a score of 10

There is an official
national policy or
directive designed
to encourageincreased access,training and useof the web for
women and girls,
with concretetargets for gender
equity in this area.
Specific andadequateresources andprogrammes areallocated andidentified for that
purpose and theprogramme isbeing clearly
implemented, withevidence of
success in someareas where theinitiative is being
implemented.

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Women's internet Women's Rights Online
accessstudy (2015) ​or othernational data source on
the percentage ofwomen with access to
the Internet
Empowering useof the web

Women's Rights Online
study (2015) ​—​ averageof data for women's useof the Internet to: a) lookfor work, b) seek
information, c) voice
opinionThis is based on data collected
in 2015 through the Women's
Rights Online study,
representative of urban
poor/slum areas

For a score of 0

For a score of 5

Under 10% of
women surveyedreported having
used the Internet.

50% - 59% of
100% of women
women surveyed
surveyed reported
reported having used having used thethe Internet.
Internet.

For a score of 0

For a score of 5

The data collected in 2015
Under 10% of
through the Women's Rights
women surveyed
Online study is representative reported havingof urban poor/slum areas. In
used the Internet
cases where nationallyin the past six
representative data is available months to: a) lookon urban and rural women, that for work, b) seek
data could be used for scoring. information, c)voice opinion
For a score of 0

Gender gap ininternet access

For a score of 10

50% - 59% of
100% of women
women surveyed
surveyed reported
reported having used having used thethe Internet in theInternet in thepast six months to: a) past six months
look for work, b) seek to: a) look for
information, c) voice work, b) seek
opinioninformation, c)voice opinion
For a score of 5This indicator comprises For the purpose of thisThe online gender The gender gap isthe average gender gap Scorecard, the Gender gap is gap is more than 30%
across (1) ​Women's
calculated as:
80%
Rights Online study ofpoor urban areas (2015)& (2) ​Pew Global% male Internet users - % female Internet
Attitudes nationallyusers

For a score of 10

For a score of 10

The online gender
gap is less than2%

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representative survey(2014)​. Other data may
include survey data from
National Statistics
Offices.

% female Internet users
x 100=
Internet Gender Gap

Affordability

For a score of 0

Existence of
A4AI Affordability Drivers The ​digital divide is a poverty
There is no
specific policies
Index (2015)
and gender divide​. The very
evidence of ato promote free orhigh cost of data and devices policy or
low-cost public
hits hardest those who earn the ICT/Broadband
internet accessleast, particularly ​women andPlan that(such as budget
rural dwellers​. Women
supports/
allocations forsurveyed in our ​Women’s
promotes public
internet access inRights Online study ​cited high and/or access.
public libraries,
costs as one of the major
schools andreasons that they are not using
community
the internet. In the countries
centers, orwith the highest Internet costs
provisions for
as a proportion of average
spectrum use byincome, our study found thecommunity WiFi
lowest numbers of women
options)
online and the largest gender
gaps in internet use.
Unless specific steps are taken
to make the Internet affordable
and accessible to thesegroups, blanket initiatives to“connect everyone” risk

For a score of 5

For a score of 10

There is evidence ofpolicies for publicaccess and sharedaccess in the
country, but
resources toimplement policies
and plans are limited
and/or there are very
few places set up tooffer thoseservices/options.

There are specificpolicies tosupport public orshared access inorder to create
affordable access.
These haveresulted in asituation in whichanyone whowants access toservices has theoption to accessthem relatively
cheaply through apublic place orshared WiFi
hotspot.

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deepening existing male/female
and urban/rural disparities.
SDG 9c commits governments
to strive to ​achieve universal,
affordable internet access by2020​.
Public access via libraries,
community centres, andmunicipal WiFi schemes —funded by well-run Universal
Service and Access Funds — iscritical to deliver access topopulations who are excluded
from connecting.
Internet
ITU, World Bank (2014)
affordability (priceof 1 GB data /average monthly
income)High costs are ​keeping billions
offline. ​Women — who earnalmost ​25% less than men
globally​ — are particularly
impacted by this high cost toconnect and, as a result, face
limited digital opportunities.
SDG 9c commits governments
to strive to ​achieve universal,
affordable Internet access by2020​.

For a score of 0

For a score of 5

For a score of 10

The price of 1GB
is 11% of more of
average monthly
income.

price of 1GB is
between 6-6.99% of
average monthly
incomePrice of 1GB isless than 2% of
average monthly
income12

Digital Skills and Education
Proportion of
ICT-qualified
teachers inschools

Web Index (2014) ​as abaseline ― with newexpert assessment
review

The UN defines affordable
broadband as 500MB of mobile
data priced at 5% or less of
average monthly income. For
the purpose of this Scorecard,
we adopt the Alliance for
Affordable Internet's (2016)
new proposed target, of ​1GB ofmobile data priced at 2% orless of average monthly
income​.
For a score of 0

“Not knowing how” to use theInternet is the ​barrier mostwidely cited ​by poor, urban
women who don’t use theInternet. Digital capabilities arealso increasingly critical tomaximise women’s ​earnings
and employment prospects​.

For a score of 5

For a score of 10

Very few ​― ​if any A few pilot projects
Teachers and―​ education
have been
administrators in
sector workers are implemented in some almost all thetrained in the use districts, but there is regions of theof web-powered no systematiccountry have to
ICTs to deliver
uptake; it is not areceive regularbetter education prerequisite fortraining (at least
services children, obtaining teacher
once every 3
and those who
qualifications, but it is years) on how to
Monitoring the "​Percentage of are, tend to be in part of thedeliver better
youth/adults with ICT skills, by the private
government’s
education
type of skill​" is a SDG indicator education sector. national education
services using
under ​Goal 4.4​ which commits This is not a
sector plan/strategy. web-powered
states to “substantially increase stipulation or a
ICTs, especially tothe number of youth and adults commitment inpoor andwho have relevant skills,
any official
marginalised

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including technical andvocational skills, foremployment, decent jobs andentrepreneurship.”The ​World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS)
notes that​ "​Work on removing
the gender barriers to ICT
education and training andpromoting equal training
opportunities in ICT-related
fields for women and girls, ispart of the action line, with earlyintervention programmes inscience and technology
targeting young girls with theaim of increasing the number ofwomen in ICT careers as wellas promotion [of] the exchangeof best ​practices on the
integration of gender
perspectives in ICT education."
The ​World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS)​ also
include a target​: "​To adapt all
primary and secondary school
curricula to meet thechallenges of the Information

education sector
policy documents
and there is nobudget allocation
for it.

communities. It ispart of the official
national education
strategy, and it ispart of thecurriculum andtraining of all
institutions that
grant official
qualifications toteachers. There is
widespread
adoption andimplementation.

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Society, taking into accountnational circumstances".
It is important to note that girls
may or may not be exposed tocomputer classes in schools,
as participation in
ICT/computer science courses
and Internet labs are often
optional. In many cases thisleads girls to self-select out.
Oftentimes boys also are given
more encouragement toparticipate. Designing andimplementing digital literacy
policies and programmes
therefore requires a gender
perspective.
For a score of 0

Percentage ofwomen intechnology andengineeringresearch anddevelopment(R&D) fields

UNESCO indicator:
The number of women in"Female researchers as a technology and engineering
percentage of total
worldwide is ​alarmingly low​,
researchers inand may be getting worse. The
technology andnumber of women inengineering".
computing in the United States
has fallen from 35 percent in“Researchers” are1990 to just ​26 percent today​.
defined as "​Professionals The drop-off rate for moreengaged in theadvanced study in these areas
conception or creation of amongst women is generally

For a score of 5

For a score of 10

The percentage of The percentage of
The percentage ofwomen inwomen in technology women intechnology andand engineering
technology andengineeringresearch andengineeringresearch anddevelopment (R&D) is research anddevelopment
at least 30%
development(R&D) is 10% or(R&D) is at least
less
50%

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new knowledge,high due to stereotypes, theproducts, processes,
dominance of men in IT fields,
methods and systems, as industry’s lack of policies forwell as in the
inclusion of women, and skills
management of thesegaps in STEM areas.
projects, broken down
by field". Engineeringand technology include:-civil engineering;-electrical engineering,-electronic engineering,-information engineering;-mechanical engineering;-chemical engineering;-materials engineering;-medical engineering;-environmental
engineering;-environmental
biotechnology;-industrial
biotechnology;-nano-technology; -otherengineering andtechnologies.
Internet access at UNESCO Data on
secondary“Educational Institutions
schoolswith Access to theInternet”

This is an official SDG indicator
to monitor SDG target 4a.
Connecting all secondary andprimary schools with ICTs is

No data iscollected on thisindicator at thenational level

50% or fewer
Over 90% of
secondary schools
secondaryreport having Internet schools reportaccess16(Note that this isbased on datareported to
UNESCO, it is notnecessarily fullyreflective ofon-the-ground
implementation ofconnectivity inschools)also a ​target identified by theWorld Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS).

having Internet
access

Note there is no data
available for majority ofcountries. Therefore,“collection of data” has While it is important thatbeen included as part of primary, secondary and tertiary
the scoring criteria.
schools all have access to theInternet, this indicator is
focused on secondary schools
because of limited available
data on primary schools'
connectivity.

Relevant Content and Services for Women
Availability of user Web Index (2014) ​as afriendlybaseline ― with new
information via
expert assessment
ICTs (including
review
web/Internet, IVR
and SMS) about
reproductive andsexual healthrights andservices for
women and girls

For a score of 0

For a score of 5

For a score of 10

Web Index ​research​ shows that The government
The government
The government
in 51% of countries theand/or CSOs/
and/or CSOs/ private and/or CSOs/
government and/or CSOs/
private service
service providers
private service
private service providers do not providers do not make available onproviders makeprovide any information on the provide any
Web-powered ICT
available via
Web/other ICT platforms about information on the platforms some
web-powered
reproductive and sexual health Web/other ICT
information about
ICTs informationrights and services, or suchplatforms about
reproductive andabout
information is not easy to find, reproductive and sexual health rights
reproductive andoutdated or incomplete so as
sexual healthand services, but
sexual healthto render it useless.
rights andsome key information rights andservices, or such may be incomplete or services in the
Complete information about
information is not out of date. The
main local
legal rights, reproductive andeasy to find,information is easy to languages. Suchsexual health rights andoutdated orfind and the language information isservices and services available incomplete so as
factual, objective,

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to victims of gender based
to render itviolence should be madeuseless.
available on Web-powered ICT
platforms. Information should
be regularly updated, easy tofind and easy to understand(language not too technical). A
single web-based, integrated
information management
system can be a cost-effective
basis for the same information
to be automatically published,
updated and retrieved throughmany different channels: SMS
messaging, IVR telephone
hotlines, websites, social
media, community radio
broadcasts, etc. as appropriate
to local circumstances

is easy to understand uncensored and(not too technical).
presented in auser-friendly,interactive format.
It does notcontain technical /medical terms
that are difficult tounderstand (forexampletranslating legal
statute relating todomestic violence
into short andeasy tounderstand FAQ
structure with theability to submit aquestion in a local
language andcontext).
Information
provided includes
antenatal andpostnatal care,
contraception andabortion, HIV &AIDS prevention,
counseling,
testing and18treatment, otheressential
preventive
services such as
cervical cancer
and breast cancer
testing, sexualwell-being, andsexual violence.
The content is
structured inaccessible ways
(e.g. FAQs,
interactive
search).
Percentage ofWorld Bank Financial
Women’s financial inclusion,
women personally Inclusion Data/Global(including access to banking
using mobile
Findex ​(2014):
and other financial services), is
financial services “​Percentage of women
vital for women’s economic
personally using a mobile opportunities. According to thephone to pay bills or to
UN High Level Panel Report on
send or receive money in women’s Economic
the past 12 months; orEmpowerment​: “Research onreceiving wages,
Kenya’s M-PESA highlights thegovernment transfers, or potentially dramatic impacts of
payments for agricultural digital financial services on
products through awomen’s economic and social
mobile phone in the past well-being. Countries should
12 months”
ensure that digital financial

For a score of 0

For a score of 5

For a score of 10

Less than 1% of
women arepersonally using amobile phone pay
bills or to send or
receive money

5%-15% of womenare personally usinga mobile phone pay
bills or to send or
receive money

Over 60% of
women arepersonally using amobile phone pay
bills or to send or
receive money

19

Select country. In“Series” search for:
Mobile account, female(% age 15+) [w2]services are associated withgreater access and use among
women as well as men. A
practical way to accelerate
financial inclusion is to move
cash payments of social
benefits and wages into bankaccounts. About 80 million
unbanked women around theworld receive governmenttransfers and wage payments
in cash. Making thesepayments digitally would
expand their financial
inclusion”.

Online Safety
Extent to which
law enforcement
agencies and thecourts are taking
action in cases
where ICT tools
are used tocommit acts ofgender-based
violence

Web Index (2014)​ as abaseline ― with newexpert assessment
review

Women around the world
report being bombarded by aculture of misogyny online andon social media in particular,
including aggressive, often
sexualized hate speech, direct
threats of violence, andharassment, defamation, and”revenge porn” including
individuals who use
personal/private information.

For a score of 0

For a score of 5

For a score of 10

Neither training
nor clearguidelines areprovided to thepolice or the
judiciary on how
to deal withgender violence
carried out using
ICT tools.
Politicians andThere are some legal Clear legal
and regulatory
protection andstipulations in place. laws in place.
Training andTraining and clear
guidelines are
guidelines areprovided to bothprovided to both
police and judiciary, the police andbut enforcement isjudiciary on how
non-existent or very to deal with suchinadequate (few or no issues.
arrests made or
Implementation

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Violence against women online policy makers
cases brought tooften leads to self-censorship. have not publicly court).
acknowledged
Both the ​Web Index ​and ​APC
that this is a
research​ on government andserious issue incorporate policies to end VAW need of redressal.
online highlight a culture of
Existing laws may
impunity that currently exists
contain loopholes
around violence against women that allow
online. In 74% of Web Index
ICT-based
countries, including many
violence tohigh-income nations, lawescape criminal
enforcement agencies and the prosecution.
courts are​ failing to takeappropriate actions​ insituations where web-enabled
ICTs are used to commit actsof gender-based violence.
Existing laws that may be
invoked in cases oftechnology-related VAW
include:- Gender equality
laws/Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination against Women(CEDAW)- Laws defining and penalising
violence against women ―also takes place
as evidenced bycases that havebeen brought tocourt in practice(regardless of final
verdict).

21

either existing as separate laws
or contained within a country’s
penal law
- Specific laws penalisingtechnology-related VAWoffences- Specific laws penalising ICT
offences- Civil laws for damages.
For a score of 0

Existence androbustness ofnational dataprotection laws

Open Data Barometer(2016)

This indicator assesses theextent to which there is there arobust legal or regulatory
framework for protection of
personal data in countries that
addresses public and private
sectors.

For a score of 5

For a score of 10

A legal or
A legal or regulatory A legal or
regulatory regime regime exists but isregulatory data
to promote data
missing some of the protection
protection does
key elements
framework exists
not exist or is so understood tothat is broadly
devoid ofpromote best
applicable,
precision and/or
practice around data provides the rightthe understoodprotection policies,of choice/consent
According to the Open Data
best practice as to including broad
to individuals,
Barometer, implementation of render it useless applicability, the right provides the rightdata protection laws globallyin practiceof choice/consent to to access and/or
has been inconsistent. ​The
individuals, the right correct one's
report notes:​ “In the past year
to access and/or
personal data,
there have been several
correct one's
imposes clear
scandals over the misuse of
personal data, clear responsibilities on
personal data collected byresponsibilities on
information
government agencies. In South
information holders, holders andAfrica for example, a private
and/or the right ofprovides a right ofcompany contracted toredress against both redress against

22

distribute social grants to thepoor is alleged to have ​misusedrecipients’ data​ to sell them
airtime and loans, while in theUK, there was public outcry
when it emerged that the
medical records of nearly amillion NHS patients may havebeen ​sold to insurancecompanies against their will​.”

private and publicbodies that violate
data privacy

both private andpublic bodies that
violate data
privacy