UK taskforce to examine role of AI and online spaces in rise of misogyny
Key Points
- Bridget Phillipson will chair a new national taskforce to tackle misogyny across UK society
- Digital spaces and AI are on the agenda after a first meeting focused on young people
- Everyone's Invited said online spaces and AI have accelerated the scale and speed of harm
- The taskforce sits alongside £26 million in school and intervention funding
- Specialist rape and sexual offence police teams will be in place by December 2027
The UK government has launched a national taskforce on misogyny that will examine how online platforms and artificial intelligence are driving harmful attitudes towards women and girls, alongside a £26 million package of school and intervention funding.
The Government Equalities Office announced the taskforce, which Minister for Women and Equalities Bridget Phillipson will chair, bringing together ministers, local leaders, academics and women’s organisations.
The taskforce will hold its first meeting on young people before moving on to workplaces, digital spaces and social cohesion.
It will look at what is working nationally and internationally to reduce harmful attitudes and shift social culture, and its work complements the government’s existing target to halve violence against women and girls within a decade.
Campaigners on the taskforce singled out online spaces and AI as the biggest accelerants of harm. “Sexual violence has long existed in our society, but the growth of dangerous online spaces and the rise of AI have turbocharged the scale and speed of harm,” said Soma Sara, CEO of Everyone’s Invited.
Sara said more than 53,000 survivors had shared their experiences through the organisation’s online safe space. “Young people need the tools, language and confidence to understand, question and challenge misogyny – online and offline – before it becomes normalised,” she said.
Girlguiding reported the same pattern among its members. “Girls tell us they are facing rising levels of sexism and misogyny online, in public and in schools,” said Felicity Oswald, CEO of Girlguiding.
Equimundo, a research organisation focused on men and boys, pointed to its own data showing misogynistic attitudes are increasing in the UK and globally.
“Online and offline, too many girls and women experience harassment and abuse at the hands of men, while men and boys are also harmed by the bullying and homophobia that often accompany misogyny,” said Gary Barker, CEO and founder of Equimundo.
Phillipson framed the taskforce as a whole-of-society effort. “With political leadership and the best experts from across the country, we will shift the dial on the poisonous attitudes that blight women’s lives, turn evidence into action, and send misogynistic attitudes back to the dark ages where they belong,” she said.
The taskforce sits alongside a £16 million package aimed at educating pupils on healthy relationships and training school staff to tackle misogyny, plus a further £10 million fund for intervention programmes aimed at children already causing harm.
The government has also published statutory relationships, sex and health education guidance for schools, which challenges myths about women and relationships spread through the online “manosphere”.
The Prime Minister recently announced that every police force in England and Wales will have specialist rape and sexual offence teams in place by December 2027, eighteen months ahead of the original deadline.
The government said further announcements on halving violence against women and girls will follow this week.
