Women Politicians Online - The Bad, the Ugly and the Good of Digital Media

Women Politicians Online examines the complex relationship between gender, politics and digital media, focusing on how women politicians both navigate and are shaped by online platforms. Taking a mixed methods approach, the book examines the disproportionate hostility women politicians face online, strategies for curating their political image and the influence of satire and digital news on public perceptions. It forwards a novel framework for understanding how women politicians are depicted on and treated via digital media, while balancing this against women politicians’ use of digital tools to project authenticity, challenge gendered expectations, and reclaim political communication from traditionally masculine norms.