POLICY PAPER

Defending Democracy: Exposing Gendered Disinformation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Across Europe, women in politics face a growing challenge that goes beyond traditional political debate: gendered disinformation. It combines falsehoods, personal slander, and gender-stereotyped narratives, aimed not just at policies but at identities, aiming to undermine women’s credibility, delegitimize their authority, and discourage them from public life. In polarized information environments, gender becomes a weapon for silencing voices and narrowing democratic competition.

Czechia and Slovakia provide particularly stark examples. Both countries remain marked by low representation of women in politics. Polarized debates around corruption scandals, NATO, the EU, Ukraine, and domestic cultural issues create fertile ground for disinformation campaigns. Within these contested spaces, women politicians attract not only political criticism but also attacks on their appearance, morality, and private lives.

This publication brings together new research on the scope and impact of gendered disinformation in Czechia and Slovakia. Using a triangulated methodology – quantitative monitoring of social media posts through Gerulata Juno, a survey of politicians at national, European, and local levels, and in-depth interviews with women politicians – it provides both statistical evidence and personal testimony. The result is a complex picture of how gendered disinformation functions, what narratives it employs, and how it affects not only individual politicians but also their families, institutions, and democratic life more broadly.

The findings are sobering. In Czechia, disinformation most often framed women as incompetent, using belittling nicknames, doctored imagery, and narratives of intellectual unfitness. In Slovakia, women were more often depicted as morally corrupt, framed as betraying the nation or serving foreign interests. In both countries, mainstream political actors, including senior governing politicians, played a central role in amplifying these narratives, demonstrating that gendered disinformation is not confined to the fringes of online extremism.

At the same time, the research highlights resilience and agency. Women politicians continue to serve despite abuse, drawing on solidarity networks and personal coping strategies. Yet resilience alone is not enough: systemic responses are urgently needed from platforms, parties, institutions, and civil society.

The structure of this publication reflects this approach. It begins with case studies of Czechia and Slovakia, presenting both quantitative and qualitative findings. It then summarizes the key findings across the cases and concludes with policy recommendations aimed at strengthening democratic resilience.

Gendered disinformation is not only an attack on women – it is an attack on democracy itself. Recognizing and addressing it is therefore essential not just for equality, but for the health and sustainability of democratic politics in Central Europe.

For the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, this issue is also deeply connected to liberal values of freedom, pluralism, and equal participation. Protecting women’s voices in politics means defending the principle that every citizen, regardless of gender, has the right to shape public life without intimidation or distortion. Countering gendered disinformation is therefore not only about fairness, it is central to safeguarding liberal democracy itself.