The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has raised serious concerns over the increasing rate of online gender-based violence targeted at female politicians in Ghana.
Speaking at a public forum in Accra under the theme “Countering Online Gender-Based Violence”, the Programme Director for Freedom of Expression at MFWA, Dora Boamah Mawutor, shared findings from a recent study conducted between August 2024 and March 2025.
“So, we undertook this study from August 2024 to March 2025, looking at the issue of online gender-based violence, particularly against female politicians.
“We found that of the five platforms we monitored—Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Ghana Web, TikTok, and Instagram—Twitter was the platform that recorded the most online gender-based violence incidents we captured, followed by Ghana Web and Facebook,” she revealed.
Mrs. Mawutor further explained that the most common forms of abuse were insulting and offensive comments, often targeting the integrity of female politicians.
“Some of them were very derogatory, some attacked the person’s integrity, and quite a number referred to female politicians as prostitutes and the like.
“We also found that many of the accounts that perpetrated this kind of violence used pseudonyms, so it’s difficult to tell exactly who is behind the accounts, making it hard to take any concrete steps,” she lamented.
The MFWA has since called for urgent measures and collaborative efforts from all stakeholders, including tech companies, government agencies, and civil society organizations, to help curb online violence and create a safer digital space for women in politics.
