WOMEN IN POLITICS AND THE NEW FRONTLINE OF ONLINE HATE

By Barbara Helfferich

Online harassment increasingly determines who participates in public life. Ensuring women can engage safely in democratic debate is not merely a question of equality – it is fundamental to democratic resilience.

A few weeks into her campaign for local office, a young European candidate posted a video outlining her priorities: better childcare, safer public transportation and support for local businesses. Within hours, the comments section was filled with insults about her appearance and questions about whether women should be in politics at all. The attacks quickly turned into threats. Not one comment addressed her policies.

This scenario has become alarmingly common. Across Europe, women entering the public arena – as candidates, journalists, activists, or officials – face online attacks that differ markedly in both tone and intensity from criticism directed at men. While social media has democratised political engagement, it has also weaponised misogyny, enabling coordinated harassment campaigns that specifically target women in public life.

The impact extends well beyond individual harm. With women already underrepresented in European political decision-making, prospective candidates witnessing such hostility often decide that the personal costs outweigh the benefits. Research confirms that digital harassment acts as a structural barrier, systematically discouraging women from entering or staying in politics.

Election campaigns particularly expose this dynamic. Attacks on women candidates routinely bypass policy discussions to focus on appearance, private lives, or family roles – reinforcing outdated stereotypes that frame politics as inherently male territory. The goal extends beyond political opposition: it seeks to delegitimize women’s very presence in public life.

Social media’s algorithmic design worsens the problem. Content that provokes outrage spreads faster and wider, giving abusive messages more visibility and normalising hostility toward women in politics. This creates a vicious cycle where harassment becomes not only common but also socially accepted.

For democratic societies, this represents a fundamental threat. When half the population faces disproportionate risks for participating in public debate, democratic representation suffers. Combating online violence against women thus becomes essential to protecting democracy itself.

The European Economic and Social Committee occupies a unique position to address this challenge. As the bridge between citizens and EU decision-makers, bringing together employers, workers and civil society organisations, the Committee can help ensure that digital governance, media regulation and gender equality are treated as interconnected elements of Europe’s democratic infrastructure.

Concrete solutions are emerging. Europe must strengthen platform accountability and ensure regulatory frameworks explicitly address gender-based online violence. Political parties and institutions need to provide comprehensive support for women candidates – including digital security training and rapid-response mechanisms for coordinated attacks. Media organisations and public institutions must actively highlight women’s leadership and policy contributions, shifting focus from personal attacks to substantive debate.

Europe has made significant progress in gender equality, but political representation is still uneven. Ensuring women can participate in public discourse without facing systematic intimidation goes beyond fairness – it is vital for creating resilient, inclusive democracies that accurately reflect all citizens.

The choice is clear: either we accept online harassment as the price of women’s political participation, or we recognise it as an attack on democracy itself and act accordingly.

Barbara Helfferich is a political scientist and gender equality expert focusing on democratic participation, inclusive governance and combating anti-gender movements across Europe. As co-founder and vice president of Gender Five Plus, a feminist think tank based in Brussels, she works to promote gender equality in European policymaking. In 2024, she received the International European Leadership Award for her work in advancing women’s rights and democratic values.