Congratulations to Madison Pearson who was selected for a 2023 SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship – Masters’. This SSHRC scholarship will enable Madison to continue her excellent research while she studies political science at Carleton.
About Madison’s research:
58% of women in Canada have been victims of violence online, and research suggests politicians are far from immune. While social media provides opportunities for Canadians to participate in democracy, combining anonymity with access makes public figures likely victims of online incivility. This project aims to test the idea that violent and gendered incivility on social media is directed towards sitting Canadian Members of Parliament (MPs) by analysing the responses to Twitter or Facebook posts made by popular MPs. By determining the presence of both discriminatory gendered language and abusive or threatening language, we can see the extent to which online incivility may act as a barrier for political participation for women. The goal is not only to determine the extent to which gender is a mediating factor in online incivility, but to use this information to make practical recommendations for both policymakers (“top-down”) and politicians plighted with abusive language online (“bottom-up”).