Women are increasingly interested in politics online, says FGV

Underrepresented in parliaments and in positions of power in the country, women seek a leading role in Brazilian political discussion outside of institutions. While access to the corridors of palaces and plenary halls is restricted by a mostly male structure, social networks are platforms where they have managed to gain their space. Research by Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) shows that women are the most interested in the topic in the digital environment: 50.4% compared to 49.6% of men.

The portrait of women in the national political environment is still a search for more representation in spaces of power. Women make up 51.1% of the Brazilian population, but, in politics, the numbers do not reflect this majority. In the last elections, the country consolidated a record number of women in the Senate, totaling 15 parliamentarians, but still far from half of the total of 81 seats. In the Chamber, female deputies represent only 18% of the 513 vacancies, even with the 41% increase in candidacies in the 2018 elections to 2022.

According to Luciana Veiga, professor at FGV ECMI, the perception that women do not like politics is associated with a difficulty in inserting themselves in the institutional environment. From the moment the discussion is held in a public environment, however, women take the lead.

“The literature shows the difficulty of inserting women into politics. Some mention that it is an environment of conflict and that there would be a 'difficulty' in the woman's nature, which would tend to appease. There is another theoretical discussion about institutional issues. The institutions do not promote the participation of women and maintain a masculine environment. And a third perspective that talks a little about the socialization of women, because they relegate women to private space, domestic tasks and family members”, he explains.

The FGV survey points out possible causes for women's removal from political spaces, according to analyzes by the institution's scholars. “Social networks have made it possible to expand women’s private space into public space. Without leaving home, the place for domestic work and children's socialization, they are able to participate in public debate”, he concludes.

The research “Digital Media Consumption in Brazil”, carried out by FGV's School of Communication, Media and Information, in partnership with Atlas Intel, is part of the Digital Democracy project, supported by the German Embassy in Brazil. The survey mapped the information consumption of Brazilians, with access to the internet, in 13 different digital media.

Quotas for women?

The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) has already defined that parties must reserve at least 30% of candidate vacancies for women, with the same percentage in access to the electoral fund and advertising time. Data registered in court after the 2022 election indicate that all parties that contested the election met the minimum quota provided by law, but this is still far from the proportion of the Brazilian electorate, which is majority female (53%).

The topic, however, is not unanimous among policies. Federal deputy Erika Kokay (PT-DF) says that female underrepresentation in Congress responds to “a sexist logic of gender construction that seeks to impose exclusivity on women in domestic spaces”. The parliamentarian defends a change in the electoral system to increase the quotas allocated to them also for the number of seats in Congress.

“We defend that there are not only quotas in nominations, but also quotas in seats. We continue to pursue the need for a reform in the electoral system that ensures the mandatory minimum quota of women in seats in the Legislative Branch”, she states.

Representative Júlia Zanatta (PL-SC), who is part of the Committee for the Defense of Women's Rights in the Chamber, is against the idea. According to the parliamentarian, social networks have increased women's access to politics and the lives of politicians, which, according to her, encourages greater female demand for the topic. Júlia assesses, however, that the current quota law imposes on parties a reserve of seats that still does not correspond to their real interest in institutional politics.

“I am particularly against reserving quota places. The women I talk to believe that female participation should be increased by encouraging participation. Women shouldn’t just fill a quota. Unfortunately, many parties are using women to fill quotas and I cannot accept that. It misrepresents the purpose,” she says.

The research also identified a predominance of women in the consumption of information about education (53% x 47%), being the main daily audience for the subject on the social network Instagram. Access to content related to the economy – which, along with education and politics, is one of the three most accessed topics by Brazilians – is mostly done by men (59% to 41%).

Balance between right and left

The most recent elections exposed the polarization between right-wing and left-wing candidates and the FGV survey portrays a balance among the population in terms of interest in ideological groups on social media. The audience on the topic is balanced between segments. The right has 29%, and the center right has 5%, with a total of 34% aligned with this ideological camp. On the other side, the left has 25% and the center left has 10%, which totals 35% in this segment. Only 6% present themselves as completely centrist and 24% said they have no ideology or don't know how to say it.

Harmfulness of misinformation

The research also analyzed how participants view the spread of fake news. Among people who access political content on social media, 57% say they believe that the harmfulness of misinformation is “very serious” for democracy, another 11% say it is “serious”. Already 29% of respondents relativize the harmfulness of disinformation, defining it as “not that serious” (12%) and “not a threat” (17%).

According to the director of FGV ECMI, Marco Ruediger, the number of users who do not see disinformation as a serious problem has to do with their identification with the group in which they belong. “These numbers show that approximately one in three users who access politics on the internet do not see significant gravity in the misinformation. Many are expected to share misinformation so they can belong to a group. The reproduction of content that strengthens one's own opinion, even if proven false, is not seen as so harmful to democracy”, reinforces Ruediger.

The FGV study was started in August last year and published this month. It involved 1,722 people and mapped the consumption profile of the 13 main digital media. “Brazil is the third country that consumes the most social networks in the world. It is not possible to understand society without knowing what is debated, shared and consumed in the digital environment. In recent years, for example, we have seen a significant increase in the spread of disinformative content. It was fake news that impacted practically all political and social processes in the country and, with the proximity of municipal elections next year, this scenario could intensify even further”, assesses the director.