Monitoring political discussions shows that a woman politician ranks among the most targeted figures by hate speech. In some posts, abusive comments reached up to 45% of the discussion, while in others they ranged from 22% to 31%, illustrating how quickly political debate can turn into hate speech.

These patterns highlight the gendered nature of online hate speech, where women in public life are often attacked not for their ideas, but for what they represent.

Promoting respectful public discourse is essential to ensure that women can participate in politics without intimidation.

This is part of the project “She Runs: Combating Hate Speech and Promoting Women in Local Leadership,” supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The data is derived from the Pikasa platform, which monitors media articles, social media posts, and online comments across media platforms to identify patterns of hate speech and discriminatory language, and to promote safer and more inclusive digital spaces for women in politics.