An Early Leak in the Pipeline – Online Abuse as a Barrier for Young Women’s Political Engagement

To what extent does online abuse on social media platforms obstruct an equal representation of women and men in politics? We investigate the gendered frequency, character, and consequences of online abuse among youth party members and ask to what extent it affects young women’s and men’s decisions to pursue a career in politics. If online abuse discourages young women from running for political office before their actual political careers have even begun, harassment on social media creates a significant leak in the pipeline of potential women candidates and consequently presents a serious barrier to an increased representation of women in politics. Empirically, we draw on an original survey of youth party members in Switzerland. The results show pronounced gendered patterns in the character and consequences of online abuse. First, young women are more likely to be attacked based on their gender. Second, compared to men, women youth party members are more likely to indicate that personal experiences with abuse on social media are an obstacle to their political work as well as a reason for them to resign from politics. The findings add important insights to previous studies on the gendered consequences of online abuse. Whereas more senior women politicians do not seem to be deterred from politics due to abuse on social media, our analysis demonstrates that online harassment is detrimental to young women’s political ambitions. As a consequence, the pool of women political aspirants shrinks and the recruitment of women candidates for political offices gets less likely. To initiate a discourse on how to address this leaky pipeline, we outline the tools and support which these young politicians ask for.