Every time Rachel Watkin’s work as a business leader thrusts her into the spotlight, she thrusts herself into the online response section.
“We’ve seen Tiny Box Company, the UK’s largest online gift wrapping company,” said the founder and managing director of Tiny Box Company. “If you are in the public eye, you are public bait and you are owned by them.”
As a well-known businessman, Watkin navigates social media when gender-based harassment, particularly targeting female leaders, is increasing due to the confluence of cultural and technological change.
Data shows that online harassment is on a full rise for internet users. A study by the Prevention Measures League, a US-based research and advocacy group, found that 22% of Americans experienced severe harassment on social media, starting from 18% in 2024.
However, women are disproportionately affected. According to a 2024 UN report, misinformation and honor loss are the most common form of online violence against women, with 67% of women and girls experiencing it.
“It goes back to the very early days of the Internet,” says Lisa Sugiura, an associate professor of cybercrime and gender at the University of Portsmouth in the UK. However, she focuses on the more recent spread of “manosphere ideation,” driven by the creek of “confessional” podcasters and influencers who are often critical of feminism.
The prevalence of this material means that some individuals may be tested or even encouraged to harass women online.
“Technology is strengthening misogynist norms,” while “right-wing actors are increasingly using online space to oppose women’s rights,” the UN report said.
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In addition to this, platforms such as Elon Musk’s X and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, which own Facebook and Instagram, have relaxed moderation policies on areas such as hate speech and misinformation.
“We’re allowed to harass more than last year. Starting on Twitter (now X), other companies are following us now,” says Jen Golbeck, a professor at the University of Maryland.
Meanwhile, advances in new technologies such as generative artificial intelligence have made it easier for perpetrators to facilitate image-based abuse. This includes creating intimate images of women’s deepfakes to trust her reputation. A recent Oxford University survey found that 96% of deepfake models target “identifiable women” including celebrities and social media users with niche followers.
According to Golbeck, women in power face “special threats” online from male trolls. The most insidious harassment includes bombing women with horrifying posts, such as rape or death threats, or hacking the leader’s accounts to find and share intimate images of them. “It all shames, humiliates, and drives women out of those platforms,” says Sugimura.
This can be accompanied by so-called DOXXING (sharing personal information such as a person’s address).
Harassment can also hurt women’s mental health, and their careers. “It’s not just what happens to an individual, it’s what happens,” says Heidi Toilek, professor of history and public policy at the University of British Columbia.
She focuses on, for example, secondary effects on victims. For example, they are more reluctant to embrace a new role in fear about “what promotion visibility does in the online world.”
Sugiura agrees that responsibility should not be victims to adapt their actions, but she “advises you to try to separate your professional and personal lives as much as possible.”
However, this may not be possible for businesswomen who may rely on personal brands.
“Traditionally you were a celebrity for appearing on television, but now, on social media and the most successful brands have a presence with people as leaders, so you become your own minor celebrity,” says Watkin.
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In addition to concerns about physical safety, some female leaders rely on other female leaders, such as assistants or social media recruiting, to protect their mental health, to monitor social media comments and direct messages.
Golbeck points out that some trolls get a thrill from being blocked by people in power, as it means they spurred the reaction.
Instead, she points to features such as the “limited” feature on Instagram. For example, someone could tag a victim or limit their ability to monitor them online. “It gives users a lot of control and power back,” says Golbeck.
Experts recommend that businesswomen seek co-support, as the goal of these campaigns is to isolate. “All we need to do is support these voices and build a strong online community that they can rely on,” says Timothy Caulfield, a law professor at the University of Alberta.
It’s also important to make a plan. “When that happens, you need to react really quickly and you can throw people away if you don’t know where to go,” Twork says. “As a businesswoman online, you need to decide: what is your potential protocol?”
