LocationsWeaponizing words: Digital violence and women’s political participation in LAC
March 8, 2026
Over the past 25 years, female political participation has increased across all major arenas of public decision-making in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The most significant progress has been made in the legislative branch. In 2024, the region recorded the highest share of seats held by women in national parliaments worldwide, at 36.5%, above the levels for OECD countries (33.3%) and the global average (27%). However, greater representation has been accompanied by growing discrimination and political violence, dynamics that digital spaces have further enabled and accelerated.
This #GraphForThought draws on data about women’s political participation and digital violence in LAC to explore both the gains achieved and the obstacles that limit their full inclusion in politics and public life.
Figure 1 illustrates the steady growth of women’s participation across policy arenas in the region. In 2024, the share of women serving on supreme courts was five times higher than in 1998, rising from 5.5% to 28.2%. Representation in national parliaments and local councils also doubled over the same period. In ministerial cabinets, women’s participation grew from 17.1% to 30.4%. Local executive offices, however, remain resistant to change. In 2024, only 15.9% of mayors in the region were women, making mayoralties the arena with the lowest levels of female representation.
Despite these gains, LAC remains far from achieving gender parity. As women’s participation advanced, so have the challenges they face. Among the persistent barriers, digital political violence has emerged as a growing obstacle. Online harassment, cyberstalking, gender-based disinformation, threats, and the nonconsensual dissemination of personal information are used to intimidate, discredit, and silence women in public life. The expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools capable of creating highly realistic manipulated content such as deepfakes, has lowered the cost and increased the speed and scale of online attacks.
An analysis of social media profiles of women in public life across five LAC countries found that up to 4 of every 10 interactions directed at them were violent. (1) The study identified widespread use of hostile language targeting women specifically, attacking them personally through insults, slurs and remarks, rather than engaging with their political ideas or positions. The data was collected in 2024, a year in which four of the five countries in the study were scheduled to hold presidential, legislative, or local elections. Electoral cycles in such a highly polarized region tend to intensify online violence against women.
In most countries analyzed, the most frequent forms of violence sought to undermine women’s ability to perform their duties, often through attacks tied to their political affiliation and civic engagement. Messages commonly questioned their mental health, cast doubt on whether they had attained their positions on merit, or disparaged their intelligence.
The political costs are high. Such attacks can deter women from participating in politics and public life, discouraging qualified candidates and reinforcing inequalities in representation. Yet hostility does not fully reflect broader public attitudes in the region. Survey data from LAPOP show that in 2023, 26% of respondents in LAC agreed that men make better political leaders than women, down from 35% in 2008. The figure remains considerable, yet the decline suggests growing recognition of women’s equal leadership capacity.
Policy responses would benefit from recognizing the continuum between digital and offline violence, treating online attacks as early warning signs that require prevention, psychosocial support, and timely legal assistance. Improved harmful content detection and public awareness efforts can strengthen prevention and support women in reporting abuse. Stronger regulatory frameworks and independent oversight are needed to ensure platform accountability, alongside regional cooperation to share good practices and coordinate action.
In contexts where gender inequality already persists, advancing women’s participation in meaningful and sustained ways remains critical. Evidence from developing countries shows that higher levels of female political participation are linked to improved provision of education and health services, stronger institutional performance, and effective governance. Women’s leadership is also associated to better child health outcomes, greater commitment to protection of human rights, more progressive fiscal policies, and lower levels of corruption. Increased representation in parliaments drives greater fiscal decentralization and strengthens local democracies, while female mayors tend to demonstrate greater transparency in office. Advancing women’s participation is therefore not only a matter of equality, but also a pathway to effective institutions, better public outcomes, and stronger democracies.
(1) The relatively low percentages of violent interactions detected for some countries do not necessarily indicate an absence of digital violence against women. Such violence may occur not only through public channels, but also in private spaces. Women may also choose to limit their social media presence to avoid attacks, reducing their visibility and, consequently, the volume of detectable interactions. Additionally, some countries in the study have fewer women in politics than others, partly reflecting differences in population size, which may affect the volume of interactions recorded.
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