There are many examples worldwide to illustrate the level of violence against women parliamentarians. In a declaration made by United Kingdom legislator Maria Miller, she admitted that as an MP, she “had to become accustomed to a regular bombardment of online verbal abuse, including threats of rape and murder.” She noted that hers was not an isolated case, as “[f]emale colleagues across the House are routinely targeted online with abusive, sexist, threatening comments. As Amnesty has shown, black female MPs are most likely to be subjected to unacceptable and even unlawful abuse.” In July 2020, United States congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was on the receiving end of a sexist slur by her colleague, Republican Congressman Ted Yoho, and publicly admitted that she was a survivor of sexual assault. Soledad Buendía, former chairwoman of PGA’s National Group in Ecuador and human rights defender, went into exile after receiving death threats, attacks in the media, political persecution, and serious violations of her physical and psychological integrity. On 9 March 2021, Roberto Carlos Silva, a well-known “YouTuber” in El Salvador and a Nuevas Ideas political party activist, was detained after harassing and threatening to harm former PGA Board Member Karina Sosa physically.

In Belarus, the primary opposition presidential campaign held by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in July 2020 was one of the most significant challenges to the election of Alexander Lukashenko. On this occasion, President Lukashenko deliberately targeted women activists, politicians, and their female family members while threatening them with gender-specific reprisals, including threats to subject them to acts of sexual violence. According to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), “Violence against women in elections is a threat to the integrity of the electoral process – it can affect women’s participation as voters, candidates, election officials, activists, and political party leaders, and it undermines the free, fair, and inclusive democratic process.”

On 26 April 2021, PGA’s Parliamentary Rapid Response Team (PARRT) received an urgent referral concerning torture, sexual abuse, and other serious human rights violations against MDC-Alliance women parliamentarians and activists in Zimbabwe. The case relates to Member of Parliament Hon. Joana Mamombe and opposition activists Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, who were abducted by the security forces after attending a protest during a Covid-19 lockdown. According to their testimony, the police tortured, sexually assaulted, forced them to drink each other’s urine, and dumped them into a rural area where they were found heavily injured and traumatized.

In December 2022, a violent fight occurred in the Parliament of Senegal after a male opposition lawmaker slapped and kicked a pregnant female colleague, Amy Ndiaye Gniby. Women already in leadership positions are also driven to quit or not seek reelection because of threats to themselves and their families. In the Netherlands, Dilan Yesilgöz wanted to succeed her colleague Mark Rutte as head of government, while the female Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag was abandoning politics. The threats against her frightened her daughters, who feared for her life, and consequently, she decided to withdraw from politics. More recently, on 6 October 2023, during a historic referendum in Australia concerning indigenous rights, indigenous independent Federal Senator Ms. Lidia Thorpe was subjected to online racism and death threats, something that, according to her, has happened since she entered politics in 2020.

As some of these examples showcase, being a woman parliamentarian has often come at great personal risk for many, impacting both their physical and mental health. In an innovative approach, PGA supported efforts by the Apolitical Foundation to map the mental well-being of politicians globally - including human rights defenders - considering their impact on their performance and the kind of representation they provide to their constituencies. Such a study will give critical insights into how parliaments can best care for their members so that they may perform their constitutional mandate.

PGA’s Campaign on Democratic Renewal and Human Rights has sought to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TGBV) partially. Its inception came about after the various complaints of women legislators whose physical and psychological integrity were jeopardized by individuals on social media and even by parliamentary colleagues. The COVID-19 pandemic has notably exacerbated TGBV trends, and PGA has attempted to address them through:

• The Parliamentary Rapid Response Team (PARRT): a referral mechanism to a nimble group of MPs whenever an MP or human rights defender needs support in a specific situation;
• The Global Parliamentary Code of Democratic Conduct: intended to be a self-regulating pledge by signatories to refrain from harassing, using abusive language, including hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation, and to use “parliamentary prerogatives to strengthen democratic values and principles; promote universal human rights; combat racism, homophobia, misogyny and any other form of discrimination […]”; and
• The initiative to “Support Women Parliamentarians facing violence around the world,” which includes key recommendations for parliamentarians such as:
  • Implementing provisions of international legal instruments that aim to stop violence against women and girls in the domestic legal order.
  • Establishing national policies to encourage the participation of women in politics and policy-making processes.
  • Achieving gender parity in politics.
  • Increasing public awareness by launching or supporting national, regional, and international campaigns.
  • Organizing workshops and/or training to help equip male leaders with the necessary knowledge to promote women’s participation in politics, especially those from marginalized groups.
  • Protecting women legislators from any form of violence.
  • Creating accountability mechanisms in parliament where women and parliamentarians at large can denounce all forms of violence.
  • Holding perpetrators accountable and applying penal legislation as necessary.
  • Understanding, identifying, and tackling different risks that women face to develop new strategies to protect them from any threat that may affect their physical and psychological well-being.

Additionally, PGA has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Organization of American States, which includes addressing democratic backsliding in a digital era. PGA collaborates with the OAS Legislative Unit within this space to address online discrimination issues. We also strategize on solutions that engage the government on policy reforms and intersectional robust legislation on TGBV.

Not one person or institution alone can promote safe and inclusive political environments for women parliamentarians. It is a collective endeavor of all relevant stakeholders and concerted action. Increasing the participation of women in political and public decision-making will yield positive results in the long term by bringing about more inclusion and representation. This will help bridge the gap between the political leaders, including parliamentarians, and the populations they serve.

Political parties have an important role in actively promoting women’s participation in politics by ensuring a safe and inclusive environment. Political parties should consider:⁸

• The introduction of voluntary quotas;
• Rules for the selection of candidates for elections at local, regional, and national levels to ensure gender equality and diversity;
• Analysis of the internal composition to address how to increase participation of women and men from diverse backgrounds;
• Use of a gender-sensitive and intersectional approach in supporting candidates for election;
• Organization of training on inclusiveness, intersectionality, and gender equality for all their members, irrespective of their gender, and ensure their accessibility;
• Organization of specific capacity- and confidence-building training in accessible formats to enhance their political skills; and
• Increase the visibility of role models in political and public life, including in the media.

An important tool political parties may wish to consider is the Charter of European Political Parties for a non-racist and inclusive society. In this document, democratic political parties of Europe adhere to fundamental principles such as “[d]efending basic human rights and democratic principles and reject all forms of racism and intolerance, hate speech, incitement to racial hatred and harassment; […]”⁹ In its preamble, the Charter reminds us all “[…] that Europe derives from its history a duty of remembrance, vigilance and opposition to all forms of racism and intolerance, including Afrophobia/anti-Black racism, antigypsyism, antisemitism, Islamophobia/anti-Muslim racism, LGBTI-phobia, sexism, xenophobia, as well as crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes and the public denial, trivialization, justification or condoning of such crimes; […]”¹⁰

Within the UK context, studies show high levels of online abuse directed at women MPs, including hateful and abusive language along with threats to their lives and safety. Minoritised women furthermore experience specific types of cyber harassment by virtue of their personal characteristics such as gender, age, and ethnicity.¹⁴

When I was a new member of parliament, you might get one racist letter a week. But that was because if you were racist and you wanted to abuse an MP, you had to write a letter, you had to put it in an envelope, you had to put a stamp on it and you had to put it in the letter-box. Now, some days, we can get hundreds of items of abuse, depending on what happened the previous day […] It’s the volume of it which makes it so debilitating, so corrosive, and so upsetting. It’s the sheer volume. And the sheer level of hatred that people are showing.¹⁵ British Member of Parliament, Ms. Diane Abbott

The vitriol women parliamentarians face is unprecedented and is facilitated by technology. These may even have dire consequences, including death.

“[…] women and girls are the principal targets of digital harassment and discrimination. In particular, female politicians, journalists, and activists are subject to what has been coined as gendered disinformation. […] Courtenay Rattray said in his speech at the CSW67, [d]igital technologies have provided new tools to control, harm, silence, and discredit women — including those in the public eye. Online mob violence is a direct attack on democracy and is effectively censoring women, hounding them from office, and blunting girls’ ambition to step up as leaders.”¹⁶

British parliamentarian Jo Cox was killed by a far-right activist after having been a victim of repeated online harassment and threats.

Gendered disinformation is not only leading to democratic backsliding and women’s rights but also is a national security threat when foreign actors use it to exploit societal divides. Political opponents portray women in politics as having a promiscuous or unusual sexual past.

Despite these heinous trends, several organizations are working on the topic to find data-driven solutions.

• #ShePersisted. The organization works to address gendered disinformation against women in politics. It researches digital harms, supports women leaders to build digital resilience, and advocates for improved digital standards. In their February 2023 report titled Monetizing Misogyny, Lucina di Meco wrote: “Through the research, we have found that gendered disinformation and tech-facilitated gender-based violence are ever more central tools for autocratic and illiberal political leaders to engage their constituency, silence outspoken women opposition leaders, and undermine democracy.”
• National Democratic Institute (NDI). In its 2021 report titled “Addressing Online Misogyny and Gendered Disinformation: A How-To Guide,”¹⁷ NDI outlines a number of recommendations. “[G]endered disinformation […] has three primary goals: to keep women out of politics; to change the views of women and men about women’s political participation; and specifically, to change party policies or political outcomes. In short, it aims to undermine women’s free and equal political participation to the detriment of an inclusive, resilient democracy.” In addition, NDI released two studies: “Tweets that Chill” (2019) on online violence against women in politics and “Engendering Hate” (2020), which examines the role of gendered disinformation as a deliberate tactic that can be amplified by the media and the public and deliver specific political outcomes.

Digital platforms are inefficient and contribute to the perpetuation of online gender-based violence. The use of algorithms, trending topics, and coordinated sharing tools have exacerbated harmful narratives against women by making content go viral across channels in a matter of seconds. Digital platforms serve commercial interests to the detriment of women and girls.¹⁸

Policymakers, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders have suggested some remedial measures to tackle online abuse of female legislators. One example is the United Kingdom. The Online Safety Bill¹⁹ sought to address endemic online abuse of women, including MPs and other vulnerable groups, and strengthen measures to protect cyberspace. Numerous observers have been calling for tech companies to be held accountable and implement mechanisms that safeguard the voices of women and girls in social media. Law enforcement agencies should invest in increasing their capabilities and partner with research organizations further to develop data collection on the abuse of women MPs. This data will constitute evidence to inform public policy.

In the digital age, it has become more difficult for women to become legislators. The combination of factors pertaining to misogyny, a polarized political arena, and online violence make it more difficult for women to have a career in politics or sustain one for a long period. On the one hand, in this toxic environment, elected representatives often decide to remain silent, limit their online engagement, or leave politics. On the other hand, the renewal of the political class is hindered because women, new talent, are discouraged from entering the political field, especially women in minority groups. The consequences are severe for democracy, gender equality, legislative representation, and inclusion.

As it is a problem affecting all countries worldwide, the international community seeks to provide a normative framework for action to help prevent and address online gender-based violence.

• The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) is a good tool that legislators should consider debating and approving in parliament. This international instrument aims at ending violence against women and domestic violence. These are fundamental policy objectives for governments committed to protecting human rights and upholding democratic principles and institutions. Over the past 30 years, member states of the Council of Europe have made progress on the legislation, but its implementation remains insufficient. Psychosocial services for victims remain scarce and inadequately funded. Additionally, the normative framework varies greatly from one country to the next, creating disparities. Institutions such as the police, courts, and social services to help women victims are often inefficient in many countries across the world.
• The Convention on Cybercrime, or the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime or the Budapest Convention, is the first international treaty to address cybercrime by harmonizing national laws, improving investigative techniques, and increasing cooperation among nations. The Council of Europe drafted the Convention with the participation of observer States: Canada, Japan, the Philippines, South Africa, and the United States. The Convention’s additional protocol subsequently came into force. States that have ratified said protocol must criminalize the dissemination of racist and xenophobic material through computer systems, as well as threats and insults motivated by racism or xenophobia. The Budapest Convention requires the provision for adequate protection of human rights and liberties, including rights arising pursuant to obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other applicable international human rights instruments, and shall incorporate the principle of proportionality.
• The Digital Services Act: ensuring a safe and accountable online environment entered into force on 16 November 2022. It aims at moderating platforms. EU Member States must empower their Digital Services Coordinators by 17 February 2024, the general date of entry in the application of the Act, when it is fully applicable for all entities in its scope. On 23 April 2023, the European Commission named a first list of 19 online platforms that will be required to comply starting on 25 August 2023.