aspect is that when a page discusses sensitive women's issues, men often comment
to position themselves as the primary source of knowledge, actively working to
discredit the information provided. One participant, who worked on a campaign
to educate women about sexual and reproductive health, noted that men would
comment on the page to brag about their sexual experiences because they
assumed the admin responding to questions was a woman. Thus, women who
wanted to ask questions preferred messaging the page privately to avoid
harassment.
The data further reveals that TFGBV intensifies in specific contexts, with electoral
violence being a prime example. This intersectional phenomenon subjects female
parliamentarians and candidates to a disproportionate level of gender-targeted
attacks. Their political campaigns and qualifications are often sidelined while they
face rampant personal attacks that weaponize harmful stereotypes, frequently
disguised as jokes, and reinforce an expectation of their failure from the outset23.
Quantitative data from the Women's Empowerment Unit of the Independent
Election Commission underscores this gendered nature: 77% of violent posts
against women during elections were made by men. The content of these attacks
was primarily defamation (41.1%), followed by questioning women's credibility
(31.1%) and bullying their appearance (17.4%)24. The Unit formally defines
electoral violence as a form of political violence, specifically "any physical or moral
act or omission by which a person aims to deprive or hinder a woman from
exercising a right or freedom stipulated in the Election Law." This violence
manifests in physical, verbal, and economic forms, as well as through electronic
means that target a woman's privacy and reputation.
“It's more brutal than other forms of violence. Now, someone might disagree with
me, but I'll tell you it's more brutal because it affects her family, it affects her entire
surroundings, physical violence is clearer and more measured. As for the
consequences of electronic violence, it sometimes leads to the destruction of homes
and leads to other violence built on it to defend them. In other words, its
consequences are very serious.”
The head of the women's empowerment unit, Samar Tarawneh
Another facet of this violence, highlighted by participants, is the active silencing of
women in political discourse. As one participant shared, “For example, when I share
my opinion about a candidate, I would get comments saying: ‘you are not the one
23
” جمعية معهد تضامن النساء,2024 “دراسة نوعية جديدة تكشف أبعاد العنف االنتخابي الرقمي ضد المرشحات في االنتخابات النيابية األردنية،زهور غرايبة
2024 ,األردني, https://www.sigi-jordan.org/article/dr-s-noa.
24
66 , )2024( التقرير التفصيلي- 2024 االنتخابات النيابية،الهيئة المستقلة لالنتخاب,
https://www.iec.jo/sites/default/files/Report/FinalReport2024.pdf.
13