The webinar \”Violence against Women – does technology help or hinder?\” was held as part of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women NGO Forum on Thursday March 9, 2023.

Watch the recording here:

The participants discussed how violence impacts women and girls in different settings.

Gideon Para Mallam is a campaigner in Nigeria and the UK, who highlights the pressures facing Christian girls targeted by Boko Haram and Isis. We have all heard some stories but behind the occasional flurry of news interest are weekly atrocities. Gideon’s charity (para-mallampeacefoundation.org) keeps a grim count of deaths and flagrant attacks on Christians, especially in the north.

Persecution looks different for women: Rape attacks make travel very risky and are designed to induce fear, and break up families; girls are forced out of school, sometimes forced into marriage or trafficked to another region.

Domestic abuse has a huge toll on women across all nations and sadly inside the Church as well. Frenchwoman, Valerie Duval-Poujol (uneplacepourelles.fr) will show how technology and simple campaigning can be effective in raising awareness and highlighting the power of working together across nations.

The voices of women in the global Baptist Church are changing perceptions, policy and practice. Merritt Johnston who leads Baptist women globally will discuss how this has been achieved.

Melinda Tankard Reist from Australia is an expert in the impact of exploitative material that objectifies women and sexualises girls in order to sell products. Her campaign is called Collective Shout (collectiveshout.org).