Toxic behaviour in the political debate has hidden costs for women

Online harassment, abuse and intimidation of politicians is a growing problem – and although there is no consensus on this, it has been reported that female politicians encounter this behaviour more frequently than their male counterparts. Some female politicians have even expressed that they have begun to see toxic messages and harassment as part of the job.

This toxic behaviour can affect both women's willingness to stay in politics and unelected women's willingness to run for public office. Several politicians have referred to the toxic dialogue on social media, including Mette Frederiksen, who presented a number of Instagram examples this spring. Several politicians have also cited harassment as a reason for leaving office, including former Dutch Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag. Additionally, toxic behaviour can affect women's willingness to engage in democratic dialogue in the public sphere at large.

However, it's not just the frequency and content of toxic behaviour that matters. A major new research project conducted by Associate Professor Gregory Eady and Professor Anne Rasmussen, Department of Political Science, shows that the same messages are understood differently depending on whether they are sent to a female or male politician. How the behaviour is perceived by politicians themselves and by ordinary citizens thus helps determine how hard the message hits.

‘Across four very different countries, we can see that women potentially face a double burden when it comes to toxic behaviour. Not only have female politicians been reported to be subjected to it at a higher rate, they also have to deal with the fact that these attacks are not perceived equally, even if they face exactly the same criticism as their male colleagues,’ Anne Rasmussen points out.

Consensus across countries and attitudes

In the study, published in the top political science journal, American Political Science Review, the researchers investigated the impact of a toxic debate environment using image-based experiments in the US, Denmark, Belgium and Chile. Respondents included both politicians and citizens who were presented with images of conversations designed to visually mimic hostile speech on social media.

‘The experiments, which consist of millions of possible images, allow us to examine how different characteristics that are often present in toxic online exchanges with politicians affect the way politicians and citizens interpret toxic behaviour directed at politicians,’ says Gregory Eady.

Across the four countries surveyed – and among both politicians and citizens – respondents rated toxic behaviour towards female politicians as more serious than similar behaviour towards male politicians.

‘Respondents agree across gender, party affiliation, political ideology and relevant subgroups. In addition, the effect of targeting hostile messages towards female politicians is perceived as stronger when the sender is male and when the message emphasises the politician's gender,’ explains Anne Rasmussen.

Motives are interpreted differently

In a follow-up experiment, the researchers were able to document the reason for these differences: The respondents interpret the motives of the senders differently when the hostile messages are sent to female politicians. The intention is perceived as more negative and less innocent when it comes to attacks on women.

‘Messages sent to women are less likely to be seen as driven by politics. They are more often perceived as motivated by prejudice or a desire to push the person out of politics. Just as when the seriousness of various forms of crime is assessed based on the sender's intent, the sender's motives for online behaviour are crucial,’ says Gregory Eady.

Overall, the study sheds light on an overlooked dimension of the gender bias created by toxic behaviour in political debate.

‘Not only is it possible that toxic behaviour in political discourse is more often directed at women. It is also perceived as more serious – even when the content of the behaviour is comparable. This potentially widens the gender gap and may in itself contribute to discouraging women from participating in politics,’ concludes Anne Rasmussen.

The study is called ‘Gendered Perceptions and the Costs of Political Toxicity: Experimental Evidence from Politicians and Citizens in Four Democracies’. It is published in the American Political Science Review.