Women’s Liberty On The Internet: A Take On Agency And Ownership
पुस २५, २०८२ १७:१
The internet once promised a new kind of public space, one where borders would blur, communities would connect, access to knowledge would expand, and power would be more evenly distributed. For many, it also promised liberty: the freedom to participate meaningfully online, to be visible and heard, to organise without fear. At its core, the internet was envisioned as open, inclusive, and grounded in user empowerment.
For women and gender-diverse people, however, the internet has become a space of contradiction. It offers visibility, often at the cost of exposure to harm. It enables connection, while simultaneously tightening control. Ensuring that the internet fulfils its original promise for women goes beyond access alone. It is a question of liberty, shaped by power, agency, governance, design, law, and culture.
Women’s agency online must translate into the freedom to speak, organise, explore identity, and participate without fear. Agency means the capacity to act independently, make free choices, and exercise control over one’s life without coercion, whether imposed by patriarchy, culture, religion, or economic dependence.
Yet the internet does not exist in isolation. The online world is an extension of offline realities, carrying the same gendered power structures, social norms, and inequalities, often amplified by digital technologies.
This is the paradox of the internet, a form of digital duality. It can be a tool of empowerment and a mechanism of erasure at the same time. Women who speak up online, particularly those who are political, outspoken, or highly visible, are routinely subjected to gendered hate speech, sexualised abuse, and coordinated harassment. A recent United Nations report found that 60 percent of women globally have experienced digital or online violence. Women in public roles, including politicians, journalists, and those from marginalized communities, are disproportionately targeted.
These attacks are not random. They operate as tools of control. When the cost of expression becomes psychological trauma, reputational harm, or threats of violence, freedom of speech becomes conditional. This raises a critical question: do women truly have liberty on the internet?
In response, many women self-censor or withdraw altogether. Over time, this shrinks the diversity of the digital public sphere, reinforcing patriarchal narratives, limiting women’s participation in technology, and normalising gender-based violence.
According to Nepal Police’s Cyber Bureau, in fiscal year 2023/24 alone, 19,730 cybercrime complaints were filed, of which 8,745 involved violence against women. These cases ranged from harassment and impersonation to blackmail and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. Complaints have risen sharply in recent years, with women forming a significant proportion of survivors.
Journalists, activists, and women in public life report persistent online abuse linked directly to their professional work, blurring the line between digital attacks and offline intimidation.
Reports also show a troubling rise in online violence against women in politics, including insults, hate speech, sexualised manipulation, and physical threats. Female leaders are rarely judged solely on ideas or decisions. Digital discourse often fixates on appearance, morality, and private life, reproducing and amplifying patriarchal expectations.
Discussions around bodily autonomy, sexuality, reproductive rights, and gender identity are judged even more harshly, subjected to moral policing, content takedowns, and algorithmic suppression, while abuse frequently goes unchecked.
Who Owns The Internet, Who Holds The Power
Power on the internet flows from ownership and control of its tools, infrastructure, platforms, and data. At a basic level, many women do not fully own the devices they use. Shared phones, monitored access, and financial dependence compromise privacy and autonomy, restricting how freely women communicate or seek information.
At a deeper level, ownership concerns who builds and governs the digital ecosystem. While no single entity owns the internet, control rests with telecom companies, platforms, data centres, and regulators. This power is concentrated and unequal, shaping who benefits from the digital economy and who bears the risks.
Digital infrastructures are overwhelmingly designed and governed by men, largely based in the Global North. Women’s lived realities and safety concerns remain peripheral to system design. This imbalance is reinforced by digital colonialism, where a small group of corporations and states control global data flows and narratives with limited accountability.
Decisions made in Silicon Valley shape how people in Nepal and across the Global South experience the internet, from content visibility to data extraction and profit. Content moderation systems often fail to recognise local languages, cultural nuance, and region-specific harassment. Vulnerable users are left with little choice but to adapt or become collateral damage.
Data As The Lifeblood Of The Internet
Algorithms determine whose voices are amplified, whose bodies are policed, and whose stories are profitable. Control over data is control over narrative, agency, and liberty. Women’s identities and behaviours are reduced to data points, valuable, yet easily exploited.
The internet and the rules governing it are not neutral. Decisions about content moderation, surveillance, and accountability define whose freedoms matter. Viewing the internet through a gender lens means recognising structural and historical barriers and ensuring women participate as builders, policymakers, and leaders, not merely users adapting to flawed systems.
In Nepal, legal protections remain inadequate for addressing digital harm. While the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression and the Right to Information Act affirms access to information, the Electronic Transactions Act, 2063, still the primary law governing online offences, predates social media. It fails to adequately address online gender-based violence. Survivors continue to face stigma, weak institutional support, and procedural barriers when reporting abuse.
This demonstrates that women’s liberty on the internet is not a technological problem, it is a question of power and agency. When systems decide who is “allowed” online and who is punished for visibility, ownership remains unequal. And when laws and platforms fail to protect the most vulnerable, freedom becomes an illusion.
If the internet is to honour its original promise, liberty must be central, not only access, but dignity, autonomy, and power. A truly free internet is one where women can speak without fear, lead without penalty, own without restriction, and shape the digital future as equal architects of this shared public space.
(Nhasala Joshi is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of Women Leaders in Technology)
पछिल्लो अध्यावधिक: पुस २५, २०८२ १७:१
