ICTs and Women’s Political Participation

Recent media reports highlighted the worrying level of online harassment against poll workers around the 2022 United States mid-term elections. Ongoing work by International IDEA confirms that this phenomenon is not limited to the US. Disinformation and various forms of aggression and harassment targeting electoral officials in the information environment is a global phenomenon and poses a serious threat to democracy.

Women running for election are more likely to be the victims of personalised, misogynistic abuse - online and at the doorstep - than their male counterparts.

That is according to new research published today which also shows that female representation at council level across the country - while still very low - has almost doubled in 30 years to 24%.

The study, commissioned by Cork City Council's Women's Caucus, was undertaken by UCC's Centre for Local and Regional Governance.

2022 ELECTIONS 

In Reddit comments, female politicians are more likely to be referred to by their first names, and with a less professional focus, than their male counterparts. This a new study from the University of Copenhagen finds. Previous work from the researchers investigated gender differences in search engine results and language models with the same main conclusion: gender bias is widespread online. According to the researchers, this disadvantages female politicians.