Throughout the Brazilian municipal elections of 2020, political violence targeting women was significant on social media. The political scenario was constituted of threats, of incitement to violence and hate speech, of intellectual undermining, of criticism of women’s bodies, ages and ethnic-racial belonging and, as to transgender women, of denial of their gender identity. Those attacks were identified by MonitorA, a research carried out by a collaboration betweenAzmina magazine and InternetLab, which followed the social networks (Twitter, Instagram and YouTube) of 175 candidates for political offices as City Councilors, Vice-Mayors and Mayors, both men and women, from September to November of 2020.

The study showed that, comparing to men, women were attacked for being what they are – women, black, elderly, transgender –, while men candidates were offended mostly for their professional performance as politicians and public administrators – except for elderly and GBT+ candidates, that were also targets of hate speech and aggressions for those characteristics.

When considering the low levels of women’s representation on legislative and executive positions in Brazil and the violent discursive acts directed to those women who seek to join or to remain in politics, it becomes clear that it is not possible to increase women’s representation in those spaces if there aren’t conditions for women to run for elections and to remain in their positions without fearing for their lives, or dealing with the consequences of such violence to their mental health.

It is a fact that there is a considerable gap in electoral and ordinary legislation referring to this issue . It is also a fact that solving this matter will require building up efforts that involve different social sectors and actors: the executive, legislative and judicial branches, as well as social network platforms – considering that the online environment provides an opportunity for those attacks to happen and to spread – and civil society.

Throughout the last months of 2020, MonitorA has focused on collecting and analysing data about gender-based political violence on social networks and on publishing its preliminary findings. Now, we gathered those analyses in a report aiming not only to share the identified problems, but also to collaborate with suggestions that can amplify the debate in different spheres.

Read the report here.