The number of women in parliament is consistently low throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Many factors contribute to this situation, but studies suggest that one major factor relates to the way that women are treated on social media. This report aims to identify how women politicians fare against their male counterparts on social media and to evaluate whether women in politics face a greater challenge than men.
Overall, there were four times as much problematic content related to the Facebook pages of male politicians compared to their female counterparts. It is important to note that the vast majority of the problematic comments aimed at women politicians were in the sexist category. Compared to their male colleagues, female politicians are treated in a less serious manner on Facebook. Comments on their posts touch on their appearance and personal qualities rather than their politics.

Details

Publication date
07 March 2022
Language(s)
English
Author(s)
Rasťo Kužel, Ivan Godársky, Branislav Kohn, Michal Hollý
Number of pages
54
Co-Publisher(s)
Memo 98
ISBN
978-91-7671-525-3 (PDF)

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Executive summary

3. Background

4. Findings
4.1 Politicians
4.2 Influencers
4.3 Media: Roselyn Kumar news page
4.4 Public groups
4.5 Network mapping analysis
4.6 The case of Lenora Qereqeretabua
4.7 The case of Lynda Tabuya
4.8 The case of Riddhi Damodar
4.9 Other sexist posts and comments

References

Annex 1. Methodology

Annex 2. Glossary of terms

About the authors
Analysts
About the organizations

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How Women Politicians of Fiji are Treated on Facebook

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