The role of education in combating gender-based disinformation

On January 20-21, 2026, the G-LENS International Conference – The Role of Education in Countering Gender-based Disinformation, organized by the ANAIS Association with the support of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Romania and other partners, took place in Bucharest. The conference was held at the Goethe Institute and brought together representatives from institutions and civil society, journalists with expertise in gender equality and combating disinformation, as well as experts in the field of education and youth work from Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Poland, and other European countries.

Through interactive sessions, panel discussions, and a roundtable, the event provided a platform for dialogue and expert exchange on gender-based disinformation, a specific form of disinformation that disproportionately impacts women through the exploitation of patriarchal gender stereotypes.

This type of disinformation contributes to discouraging the representation of women and minority groups in political and public life and has become much more visible in the context of the 2024 European Parliament elections, targeting in particular women in public positions – politicians, journalists, activists, or content creators – through tactics such as online harassment, coordinated attacks, privacy violations, or AI-enabled image abuse. Education plays a key role in combating this phenomenon and mitigating the effects of harmful narratives, and has the potential to build long-term resilience against gender-based disinformation by equipping learners with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary to resist manipulative narratives.

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Romania facilitated the participation of expert Paula-Charlotte Matlach, a researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in Germany (ISD Germany). She analyzes the spread of disinformation and extremist ideologies in German- and English-speaking countries. Prior to ISD, Paula-Charlotte worked at NATO's Center of Excellence for Strategic Communication, where she published articles on network regulation and foreign influence, among other topics.

Researcher Xhenis Shehu also presented the results of the study Monitoring the 2024/2025 presidential and parliamentary elections in Romania: an intersectional perspective: gender, sexual orientation, and minorities, conducted by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Romania together with a team of researchers from SNSPA. The study focuses on an intersectional analysis of electoral discourse, examining how issues such as gender equality, diversity, and minority rights were reflected in the campaigns of candidates in the 2024 and 2025 parliamentary and presidential elections. This study shows that anti-gender discourse was a central element in polarizing electoral rhetoric and also highlights the use of rhetoric against sexual minorities in electoral discourse to mobilize conservative and religious groups by dehumanizing members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Ethnic minorities were addressed only in a superficial and fragmented manner, or framed within a discourse marked by racist and xenophobic undertones. 

The conference created a space for dialogue that contributes to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of gender-based disinformation and its multiple effects on young people, as well as the role of formal and non-formal education in combating them. By facilitating cross-national and cross-disciplinary exchange, this project provided an opportunity to share tools, curricula, and lessons learned from educational practices focused on gender equality and digital literacy.