In surveys around the globe, women politicians often say they face worse online abuse than men politicians. Yet when researchers analyze social media comments, posts, and mentions, the data does not match these reports. Instead, prior research suggests that men and women politicians receive similar rates of hostile content online. This has led to an uneasy suggestion that women politicians may be overreporting online abuse because they are more “sensitive” to it than men are.

When research considers how women politicians may be targeted for their gender identity, the findings align with what women have reported. Hostility toward women is up to twice as likely to be gender-based. Gender-based hostility is also more abusive than general hostility, including higher levels of toxicity, insults, threats, sexually explicit language, and obscenities. Further, both gender-based and general hostility are more severe when aimed toward a woman rather than a man. Together, these results strongly support what women politicians have said: they do face worse abuse than men in politics.

Facing harsh online abuse can have serious effects. Many politicians, pundits, and researchers have hypothesized that online hostility might cause some people to leave office who would otherwise have stayed in office. Notably, this speculation has mostly focused on women, even though earlier studies found that men and women receive similar levels of online hostility. Once again, the underlying belief seems to be that women politicians are more sensitive to abuse than men.

My research refutes such doubts about the resilience of women politicians.  Across four election cycles, I found no evidence that women are leaving politics because of online abuse. Even though they face much worse abuse, especially gender-based hostility, women politicians continue to show resilience.

Still, dealing with abusive messages should not be part of a woman’s job as a politician. Women who run for office know they will face abuse, both online and offline, and their decision to campaign shows confidence in their ability to handle it. Yet it takes a special kind of person to choose a career that involves constant gender-based hostility. By making it harder to enter politics, online hostility—especially gender-based hostility—may discourage women from running in the first place. This means online abuse may reduce women’s representation before they even decide to enter politics, rather than causing those already in office to leave.