Artificial intelligence (AI) developments have changed political communication by creating new opportunities for political participation while posing challenges to efforts to control misinformation. AI-generated misinformation, such as synthetic audios, deepfakes, and manipulated images, is a challenge for developing democracies. This type of misinformation disproportionately affects public trust in women political leaders and women's political participation, challenging women’s credibility, discouraging political participation, and undermining trust in female political leadership. While previous literature has examined the relationship between misinformation and democracy, limited attention has been paid to how AI-generated gendered misinformation influences public trust in women’s political leadership and public support for women’s political participation in developing democracies such as Pakistan. Drawing on feminist institutionalism and the literature on gendered misinformation, the study conceptualises AI-generated gendered misinformation as a mechanism through which gendered power structures challenge female political representation and public trust. The study examines the extent to which exposure to AI-generated gendered misinformation influences public trust in women political leaders, and how that trust reshapes support for women’s political participation. The study also evaluates how much the public supports AI governance initiatives to address this type of gendered misinformation and to strengthen democratic resilience in Pakistan. The study follows a deductive approach and adopts a quantitative cross-sectional survey design. Data have been collected from 300 social media users aged 18-45 via a questionnaire to measure their experiences with AI-generated gendered misinformation, their trust in women political leaders and support for women’s political participation. For data analysis, the study utilises Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The findings of the study reveal that higher exposure to AI-generated misinformation degrades public trust in women political leaders and weakens support for women's political participation. The study recommends strong social media accountability, AI literacy, and gender-responsive governance to strengthen democratic resilience, women's political participation and representation.
