CAVIWO and the 16 Days of Activism: UNiTE to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls

From November 25th to December 10th, 2025, Canada Virtuous Women (CAVIWO) stood shoulder to shoulder with activists, survivors, and allies across the globe to mark the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. This annual campaign, which runs from the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women through Human Rights Day, is one of the most important moments in our advocacy calendar. It is a time when the world pauses, together, to name what too often goes unnamed, and to commit, together, to the work of ending it.

This year, the global call to action was more urgent and more modern than ever before. Under the theme UNiTE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls, we turned our attention to a new frontier of rights and safety: the digital world. For many of the women we serve, the online space has become an extension of their daily lives, a place to learn, to connect, to work, and to belong. It has also become, for too many, a place where harm follows them and where new forms of violence take root. We chose to meet that reality head on, because the women we serve cannot be safe offline if they are not safe online.

While the 16 days have officially concluded, the message remains clear. Violence against women does not stop at the screen. A woman who is harassed in her inbox carries that fear into her home. A woman whose image is shared without her consent carries that violation into every relationship that follows. The boundary between the digital and the physical is not a wall. It is a membrane, and what passes through it touches every part of a woman's life. We named that truth throughout the campaign, and we will continue to name it long after the 16 days have ended.

For too long, online abuse has been dismissed as not real violence. But this year's campaign shattered that myth. Over the two weeks of the campaign, we explored how technology, which should be a tool for empowerment, is increasingly being weaponized through cyberstalking, non-consensual image sharing, online harassment, and abuse enabled by artificial intelligence. We shared what these harms look like in plain language, because naming them is the first step toward ending them, and because the women who experience them deserve to hear their reality spoken aloud and taken seriously.

We learned that digital rights are human rights. When a woman is harassed online, it affects her mental health, her economic opportunities, and her physical safety offline. A woman who is afraid to open her email is a woman who cannot participate fully in the workforce. A woman whose location is tracked through her phone is a woman who cannot flee an abuser. A woman whose private photos are shared without consent is a woman whose dignity has been attacked in a way that leaves no visible bruise but wounds her nonetheless. The harm is real, and the reality demands a response.

During these 16 days, CAVIWO was proud to amplify the voices of those often silenced in digital spaces. We joined the global community to raise awareness, highlighting the specific dangers women and girls face online and providing resources on digital hygiene and safety. We advocated for accountability, joining calls for stronger regulations that hold social media platforms and technology companies responsible for the safety of their users. And we reaffirmed our commitment to supporting survivors of all forms of violence, whether it happens behind closed doors or in a direct message. The platform may be new. The principle is not. Every woman deserves safety, and we will advocate for it wherever the harm occurs.

We were especially mindful, in this campaign, of the women who are most at risk in digital spaces. Women of African and Caribbean descent, newcomer women, women living with disability, and women who are already isolated by language or circumstance face compounded risks online, just as they do offline. The digital divide is not only about access to devices. It is about access to safety, to information, and to the confidence to report harm when it happens. We centered these women in our messaging, because a campaign that does not speak to the most vulnerable is a campaign that has not fully understood its purpose.

The 16 Days of Activism may end on December 10th, Human Rights Day, but our activism is a 365-day commitment. The women who reached out to us during the campaign did not time their need to our calendar. The woman who told us, in the middle of the campaign, that she had been receiving threatening messages for months did not start being afraid on November 25, and she will not stop being afraid on December 10. We carry her, and every woman like her, with us into every day of the year, and the carrying is the work that continues when the campaign concludes.

As we move forward into 2026, CAVIWO will continue to champion a world where women and girls can navigate both physical and digital spaces without fear. We carry the momentum of these past weeks with us, knowing that a safe internet is essential for gender equality. The work ahead includes continuing our digital safety education, strengthening our support for survivors of online abuse, and advocating alongside our partners for the systemic changes that make digital spaces safer for everyone. The vision is large. The steps are daily. We take both seriously.

Thank you to everyone who liked, shared, marched, and spoke up during this campaign. Every share amplified a message that might otherwise have gone unheard. Every march reminded someone watching that she was not alone. Every voice that joined the chorus made the chorus harder to ignore. The strength of a campaign is measured not in the institutions that endorse it but in the people who carry it, and we are grateful to every person who carried this one alongside us.

Let's keep the conversation going. Let's keep the internet safe. Let's UNiTE. The hashtags will fade from our feeds, but the commitment they represent must not fade from our work. We will keep talking about digital violence. We will keep supporting the women who experience it. We will keep building the community that believes them. The 16 days were a beginning. The remaining 349 days are the work, and the work is what we are here to do, every day, for every woman who needs us to.

If you or someone you know is experiencing online harassment, digital stalking, image-based abuse, or any form of technology-facilitated violence, please know that you are not alone. CAVIWO is here to listen, to believe, and to help you connect with the resources and support you need. You do not have to carry this in silence. Reach out. We will walk with you. Because the end of the 16 days is not the end of our commitment to your safety. It is the beginning of another year of standing beside you.

Written by

CAVIWO Advocacy Team

Contributor to the CAVIWO community sharing stories of hope, resilience, and advocacy.