Female politicians get twice as many sexist comments on social media as men
Women in politics receive twice as many sexist comments on social media as their male colleagues, Het Laatste Nieuws reports. This also applies to local councillors and politicians with an immigrant background.
Research by the Institute for Gender Equality and universities ULB and UGent, which analysed 44,000 reactions to politicians' posts on Facebook, Instagram and X, shows that every four out of 10 comments are negative.
Women receive many more negative comments, especially sexist ones. For female politicians, 4 per cent of all comments are sexist, compared to 2 per cent for men.
Women with a migration background receive twice as many negative comments as women without a migration background. Groen co-leader Nadia Naji told Het Laatste Nieuws: "My colleague Jeremie Vaneeckhout gets comments about what he says. With me it's about my hair."
"My colleague Jeremie Vaneeckhout gets comments about what he says. With me it's about my hair"
The position of the politician in question also plays a role. The less important their role, the more negative comments they receive. Local candidates, for example, are much more targeted than ministers.
According to the Institute for Gender Equality, this is a worrying trend. Negative comments can discourage potential new female politicians from running for office, the institute says, which is a big problem for Belgium's democracy.
#FlandersNewsService | © PHOTO NHAC NGUYEN / AFP
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