Q COSTA RICA — In the first 100 days of Laura Fernández’s administration, political violence against women has reached alarming levels.
Data from the Digital Communication Observatory of the Universidad Latina (ULatina) highlights that, when analyzing online conversations, the majority of comments about women are negative.
Worst of all, this is pure and simple political violence, unfiltered and with very little questioning of ideas, focusing instead on private matters.
“Attacks on reputation, mockery of physical appearance and age, and references to traditional gender roles account for 89% of the categorizations; only 11% relate to proposals. This demonstrates that much of the negativity shifts from public performance to personal delegitimization,” the study, conducted between May 1 and August 16, 2026, on social media, news sites, blogs, and other publicly accessible online spaces, indicates.
Claudia Dobles is the target of criticism
Political violence constitutes the majority of negative comments directed at all the women analyzed in the study.
However, Claudia Dobles, a legislative member for the Agenda Ciudadana, stands out as the figure who receives the most criticism from internet users, given that 43% of the comments she receives can be considered political violence, while 72% of the mentions on social media are negative.
“First, it must be said that we have a political movement that fosters and encourages violence (…) Interestingly, political violence is very focused on women, not on their ideas, but on other areas, such as their physical appearance, how they dress, and their reputation, and this stems from a very violent environment,” Dobles pointed out.
Gender-based political violence is any action or omission, based on gender, that seeks to limit, nullify, or undermine women’s political and electoral rights or their ability to hold public office.
“These attacks demonstrate that the phenomenon transcends elected positions and that institutional hierarchy alone does not determine the level of exposure; likewise, they divert attention from proposals, force women to answer for personal attributes, and reduce the space for programmatic debate,” the study concluded.
The ULatina research was conducted with the support of Kantar IBOPE Media, which analyzed 832,000 mentions on social media platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), news sites, YouTube, and Instagram. For the purposes of this report, messages and comments from accounts identified as “digital trolls” were removed.
What constitutes negative attacks against women in politics?
The analysis of digital behavior conducted by ULatina during Laura Fernández’s first 100 days in office reveals that negative online discourse against women is not centered on the debate of ideas, but rather on various forms of aggression that can be classified as political violence:
- Attacks on reputation (40%): These represent the main offense, focused on undermining the personal and professional prestige of political figures.
- Mockery of physical appearance and age (37%): Aggressions that use attributes of their appearance or chronological age to discredit them.
- Traditional role of women (12%): Attacks based on gender stereotypes and questioning of their social role.
- Scorn of proposals (11%): Only a small fraction of the negativity qualifies as democratic criticism or discussion of their work proposals.
Target of criticism
Political violence constitutes the majority of negative comments directed at all women involved in politics, according to a study conducted by Universidad Latina.
Political Figure: Political Violence General — Negative Comments — Total Critical Load
- Claudia Dobles (legislator): 43 — 29 — 72
- Kattia Calvo (legislator): 36 — 18 — 54
- Patricia Solano (Judge, Chamber III): 33 — 26 — 59
- Laura Fernández (President): 19 — 14 — 33
- Joselyn Sáenz legislator): 13 — 10 — 23