This year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence launched on Tuesday with a focus on ending digital gender-based violence (GBV). The grand launch was presided over by the Minister of Gender Mary Navicha at an event that took place in Balaka. Later that evening, the minister also graced the launch of the Chief Kachindamoto Fund hosted by the Norwegian Ambassador in Lilongwe, an initiative that aims to intensify efforts to end child marriages and protect Malawi’s girls.
Every year, as we begin the 16 Days of Activism Against GBV, we repeat the familiar lines about ending violence against women and girls, and rightly so. But while our voices grow louder, so do the attacks, now increasingly shifting into digital spaces where the scars may be invisible, but the harm is not.
We can no longer pretend that cyberbullying is some distant, abstract threat. It is a growing challenge that is reshaping the lives of women and girls in ways we are not fully acknowledging.
A new study by the NGO-Gender Coordination Network reveals that 73 percent of women in Malawi have experienced some form of cyberbullying. This means almost every woman you know—your sister, your colleague, your neighbour, your child—has been humiliated, threatened, harassed or silenced online.
Digital platforms were supposed to expand opportunities for women and girls. Instead, they are being weaponised to police our voices, expose our bodies, shame our choices and attack our presence. Girls who should be using the internet for school and creativity are instead learning to fear it. Women who step into public spaces, from journalists, to politicians and advocates, are punished for daring to be visible.
During the launch, the Minister of Gender reminded us that even children are not spared, with one in three reporting cyberbullying. For a country fighting to keep girls in school and nurture their confidence, this should be a national emergency. But too often, our response stops at acknowledgment and statements of concern.
The problem is not a lack of laws, but a lack of implementation and enforcement. We have legal frameworks to address online abuse. What we need are systems that make these laws work for the people who need them most. Many survivors do not report because they know their case will be minimised, misunderstood or dismissed entirely. Or worse, they will be blamed for being online in the first place.
For a woman whose nudes have been leaked, or a girl being tormented on WhatsApp, “just ignore it” is not a solution or protection. And telling women to “log off if it’s too much” is the digital equivalent of telling them to stay home if they don’t want to be harassed on the street.
It is time to move beyond rhetoric and start designing practical, accessible and survivor-centred ways to deal with cyber violence.
The first step, as proposed during the launch on Tuesday, is to revive the National Action Plan to Combat GBV which expired in 2021. Leaving such an essential strategy hanging for years sends the wrong message. The revised plan must include clear enforcement mechanisms, timelines, and responsibilities, not just vague commitments.
Second, Malawi needs specialised digital safety desks within the police, staffed by officers who understand cybercrime and can support survivors without judgment. A young woman reporting harassment should not have to explain how Facebook works to the person taking her statement.
Third, the Judiciary must treat cyberbullying as the crime that it is. Without consequences that deter perpetrators, online violence will continue to feel like a low-risk, high-impact tool for silencing women.
Fourth, tech companies in the country must step up. We cannot keep using platforms that allow content in Chichewa or Yao to slip through moderation gaps. Service providers must invest in safer design, better reporting systems and real-time responses.
And finally, communities must be brought into this conversation. Cyberbullying does not start online. It begins with the offline beliefs that women should be controlled, monitored or punished. Chiefs, teachers, clergy, parents—these are the people who shape the values that eventually spill onto the internet and they cannot be left out of this conversation.
Balaka Parliamentarian John Bamusi made an important point, that the fight against violence requires resources. Even the Constituency Development Fund could be part of the solution if it is utilised to fund local awareness efforts, digital literacy sessions, and survivor support. Safety should be an integral part of community development, not an afterthought.
From where I stand, the theme for this year’s 16 Days, ‘United to End Digital Gender-Based Violence’, requires more than solidarity marches and social media posts. It requires us to start treating digital safety as a human rights issue that requires urgency, coordination, investment, and above all, the political will to act.
Because the truth is simple, women and girls deserve to be safe everywhere they exist, whether that is a village path, a classroom, or a WhatsApp group.
Until we design ways to make that safety real, meaningful and enforceable, our activism will remain loud, but incomplete.
