Technology-facilitated gender-based violence against women in politics in Brazil

In Brazil, women’s representation in national politics reaches just 18% and is indicative of a wider trend of underrepresentation of women in politics around the world. Brazil is a politically polarised society, which means no women politician is safe from online abuse and all are targets of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TF-GBV).

This report by Data-Pop Alliance (DPA) provides new evidence on the nature of online attacks, the gender norms that fuel the sexist content of the abuse, data on who is perpetrating it and when, as well as what political parties are doing (or not) to respond to this urgent problem. The research shows that there are clear attack patterns that underpin TF-GBV, with the weaponisation of deep-rooted gender norms and racialised tropes to keep women out of positions of power, and to deter, punish and expel women from public life – exacerbating one of the most persistent democratic deficits globally.

High-profile women, and Black, Indigenous and LGBTQI+ women, are especially targeted by TF-GBV, with the impacts extending far beyond the online world. While TF-GBV is often normalised as a cost of doing politics, it generates cascading offline harm, extending into family life, psychological distress, physical and financial safety, and in some cases, accelerating an end to women’s political careers.

Although political parties should be leading the charge in preventing and responding to TF-GBV, this research shows their responses are insufficient, even when this abuse is wielded by politically motivated actors both within and without their own parties.

Data and insights gathered by DPA are based on the analysis of messages in dozens of Telegram channels, key informant interviews with women politicians across the ideological left-right spectrum, together with a review of documents from 20 Brazilian political parties. This report is part of a joint ALIGN research project in partnership with Data-Pop Alliance in Brazil and development Research and Projects Centre (dPRC) in Nigeria.

Key messages

• TF-GBV is enabled by deep-rooted gender norms. Distinct attack patterns are linked to prevailing gender norms that intersect with the diverse identities of women in politics. All women in politics are attacked based on gender norms that link femininity to domesticity, over-emotionality and purity, or questioned based on their appearance, independence, or racialised, class-based or indigenous positionalities.
• Online attacks rise with visibility through a politician’s term as well as during election periods. Intensity of attacks increase with visibility, generating a ‘visibility penalty’ for women in politics who gain a high-profile. While election periods do not emerge as the primary drivers of online aggression overall, they are still significant.
• Politically motivated actors coordinate attacks using misogynistic, racialised and sexualised tropes. Attacks can come from within a woman’s own political party. Right-wing women in particular are often targeted by their own ideological allies as a form of institutional gatekeeping and exclusion.
• TF-GBV generates layers of cascading harm in real life. From the strains on mental health to threats against family members, to relocation/security costs and health crises, these harms compound to entrench exclusionary barriers that push women out of politics. Yet, there is an underdeveloped conceptualisation of TF-GBV across parties of all political persuasions, with no specific strategy, manifesto or policy document addressing TF-GBV specifically.
• TF-GBV does not only harm individual women, it is a tactic to deter, punish and expel women from public life. This makes TF-GBV a threat to democracy, requiring immediate remedies as well as longer-term norm and institutional change.