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.