One third of Australian women have been abused online in a work context, with many stepping back from their roles and avoiding leadership positions after suffering abuse.
The eSafety Commissioner on Tuesday released new research into women's experiences with online abuse during their working lives, following an online survey of almost 1500 women and in-depth interviews with 20.
The survey and qualitative study found online abuse of women in professional contexts is widespread, with 35 per cent experiencing some form of online abuse and of those, 51 per cent reported serious professional and work impacts as a result.
Women with publicly visible online or media profiles who are aged under 34, have a disability or identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or queer are more likely to experience online abuse.
Half the perpetrators were strangers and professional contacts accounted for 40 per cent, followed by personal contacts.
Most of the abuse happened on social media and the most common form was via unwanted private messages, at 62 per cent, followed by negative online comments at 49 per cent.
About 29 per cent reported bullying, trolling and harassment as most common, followed by defamation (23 per cent), racist or sexist remarks (22 per cent) or comments on physical appearance (19 per cent).
Women reported being stalked online, being impersonated or having fake accounts set up in their name and others were doxxed, which involves publishing private or identifying information about them online.
A sample of 731 men was included in the study to provide context to the women's experiences.
Women were more likely to attribute online abuse to their gender, 41 per cent versus nine per cent of men, and their physical appearance, 23 per cent versus eight per cent of men.
Many women said they had pulled back from their professional lives, with 22 per cent temporarily stopping work-related online activity and five per cent deleted their accounts.
"In general, there are clear signs of women pulling back from their professional lives and lowering their public profiles because of online abuse," the report said.
Eight per cent said they had given up leadership positions after the abuse and five per cent left their jobs.
"The only option to stop the abuse is to stop being a public figure. They'll pick on someone else who's more visible or more successful," one woman told the survey.
Another said: "The only thing that has limited online stalking has been to limit interaction with the public, including not advertising for my business."
Women also suffered personally, with 41 per cent of those who experienced online abuse suffering "significant mental health impacts" and more than one third losing self esteem and confidence.
When it came to reporting the abuse, more than one third went to the social media platforms and websites and eight per cent sought a formal authority such as police or the eSafety Commissioner.
Some women took a more activist stance, such as calling out the abuse online or raising it in the media.
Overall, 56 per cent said they were not likely to respond to the abuse, 54 per cent blocked the perpetrator and 37 per cent deleted posts or comments.
Women reported limited recourses were available to them when experiencing online abuse and a lack of avenues for redress.
