Executive Summary
Despite the increased participation of women in Iraqi elections, online spaces remain highly hostile environments for women candidates.[1] Digital platforms have become significant in the negotiation of political legitimacy, gender norms, and social expectations. Women candidates are frequently subjected to coordinated harassment, sexualized disinformation, moral shaming, and narratives questioning their competence or legitimacy.
The following report examines patterns of Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) targeting women candidates during the 2025 Iraqi parliamentary elections. The analysis focuses on how harmful narratives against women in politics emerge and evolve across different stages of the electoral cycle, including the campaign period, voting day, and post-election discussions.
The findings in this report were derived using a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative digital monitoring and quantitative narrative analysis of publicly available social media content. Monitoring covered 160 social media pages across Arabic and Kurdish contexts between October 2025 and January 2026, including political accounts, media outlet accounts, accounts of electoral candidates, satirical accounts, and accounts linked to tribal and religious actors.
The research team identified 137 Arabic language posts and 83 Kurdish language posts which targeted women candidates. In addition, the team analysed approximately 33,000 user comments (15,933 in Arabic and 17,452 in Kurdish) to understand how online audiences engage with election-related discussions about women candidates and how gender-based hostility appears within public digital discourse.
The findings reveal that TFGBV against women in Iraqi politics functions as a continuous process that intensifies throughout the electoral cycle. Women candidates were repeatedly targeted through narratives cantered on morality, appearance, honour, accusations of corruption, and claims of quota manipulation, while their political programs and qualifications received limited attention.
The analysis also reveals significant differences between the types of TFGBV in Arabic and Kurdish contexts. While Arabic content revealed higher levels of harassment and sexualized insults, Kurdish content demonstrated increased usage of discriminatory narratives, including accusations of treason and dehumanizing discourse. Although violent speech appears in a relatively small percentage of comments, when it does, it is severe and includes incitement to violence and/or sexual threats.
The report also finds that digital hostility is amplifying structural vulnerabilities within Iraq’s political system. While the women’s quota increases numerical representation, party practices can at times limit the political agency of women, making them more vulnerable to online attacks and delegitimization narratives.
Addressing TFGBV is therefore essential to enhancing digital safety as well as to protecting democratic participation and ensuring that women can engage in political life without fear of harassment or intimidation.
The report concludes with a set of national and regional recommendations aimed at strengthening responses to online hate speech and gender-based violence, including actions that can be taken by governments, political parties, technology platforms, and civil society organizations.
About the project
This report is an output of the SAFA project (Safer Access for All, Arabic: صفا – “Clarity”), an initiative designed to address and counter technology facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) in Iraq through evidence-based research and digital monitoring.
The project utilizes advanced AI-based social media monitoring technologies tailored to the Iraqi context to analyse online discourse and generate evidence on the prevalence and patterns of TFGBV, particularly during key democratic moments such as elections. The insights produced aim to raise public awareness about online gender-based violence and support efforts to challenge harmful gender norms.
SAFA also integrates legal analysis to inform policy recommendations and advocacy actions targeting Iraqi decision-makers, with the goal of strengthening legal protections against digital violence. In addition, the project collaborates with journalists and media actors to address discriminatory media coverage and promote responsible reporting that counters online gender-based violence.
The project is implemented through a collaboration between Democracy Reporting International (DRI), the Jordan Open-Source Association (JOSA), and the Iraqi Network for social media (INSM).
