Study confirms women in politics receive more attacks and abuse on social media than men

Female politicians in Europe receive more identity-based attacksthan other politicians, according to new research. The study analysed 23 million posts on X addressed to politicians in the UK, Spain, Germany and the US, and found that women in Europeexperience online "incivility" regardless of how well known they are.

Incivility has been defined as posts which contain hate speech or assign stereotypes, undermine or exclude a social group, or threaten someone’s rights. It also includes posts that name-call (such as ‘weirdo’ or ‘idiot’), cast aspersions (‘liar’ or ‘traitor’), use pejorative speak, sarcasm, and all-caps. It comes after Nigel Farage unveiled an ex-Tory who made racist remark on WhatsApp as its newest defector.

This incivility faced by female politicians can include everything from misogynistic and sexist comments to violent threats, or attempts to defame or humiliate.

READ MORE: Nigel Farage faces probe by Parliament's standards watchdog over 'interests'

READ MORE: Palestine Action co-founder WINS bid to challenge group's ban as terror group

Lead researcher of the study, Maarja Lühiste, associate professor of politics at Newcastle University, said: "We noticed that female candidates targeted with abusive language typically receive more morality-focused words, such as 'vile,' 'shame,' 'shameful,' 'disgraceful,' 'hypocrite,' and 'deluded.’”

Lühiste added: "They also receive messages with more references to personal attacks—including words like 'kill,' 'destroy,' and 'rape'—rather than simple swear words."

The study, published in Politics & Gender by Cambridge University Press, found that the posts aimed at Spanish and German politicians appeared to use fewer deliberately abusive words than those aimed at US and UK politicians.

Lühiste explained: “Both men and women politicians experience incivility and, overall, the more famous they are, the more abuse they receive. BUT women in Europe receive uncivil tweets even when they're not well known.”

For more stories like this subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Weekly Gulp, for a curated roundup of trending stories, poignant interviews, and viral lifestyle picks from The Mirror's Audience U35 team delivered straight to your inbox.

She added: “Political culture and electoral rules may matter, too: German and Spanish politicians in our sample receive less incivility than their UK and US counterparts. And the incivility in less personalised systems - especially in Germany - is relatively 'polite' compared to the other countries in our sample.”

Multiple female politicians in the UK have opened up about experiencing online abuse. In 2019, Heidi Allen said she would be stepping down as MP after experiencing “utterly dehumanising” abuse.

Nicky Morgan also announced that she would no longer be serving as an MP that same year, saying: "I think the role of being an MP has changed. I think the abuse, because of the platforms, because of how strongly people feel about the current political situation, that has changed enormously in the almost 10 years since I started."

Angela Rayner has previously spoken up about facing such abuse that she barely read online posts. In 2023, she said she believed female politicians experienced more abuse, explaining: "Whether it's a Conservative MP, SNP or Labour it doesn't matter, it's mainly women that get the abuse. They want to silence us.”

Rayner added: "The one thing I'm asked every time I visit a school is 'how do you deal with the abuse you get?' and that shouldn't be the first question young people ask me."

Help us improve our content by completing the survey below. We'd love to hear from you!