The ‘Paradox’ of Sexism in Electoral Politics

This paper discusses a paradox around sexism in electoral politics. We use in-depth interview data with 25 candidates at the 2024 regional, federal, and European elections in Belgium, to show that candidates are aware of the prevalence of sexism but face difficulties in identifying its contours. They fall back on a narrow definition of sexism centered around explicit benevolent or hostile sexist attacks or violence. In doing so, candidates minimize their experience of sexism in politics. We contrast these findings from our qualitative data with quantitative social media data. We coded nearly 44,000 reactions to about 3,000 posts on X, Facebook and Instagram by 40 candidates during the 2024 campaign. Results from this quantitative analysis show that sexism on social media is only partly expressed via sexist attacks or violence directed at female candidates. What is more striking is the significantly more aggressive and negative tone in the reactions to posts by female candidates compared to male candidates, highlighting an unequal and gendered treatment of candidates. Given the prevalence of negativity on social media, this unequal treatment is mostly invisible for candidates. These findings question how sexism is defined, understood, and measured by actors and institutions. They call for adopting a broader perspective when conceptualising and measuring sexism in politics.