Most secondary school teachers see it as a big problem in their school, and the majority also feel schools are doing as much as can be expected on the issue
Teachers are second only to parents in terms of the physical time spent looking after children, and are therefore well placed to spot changing trends in behaviour.
The teachers component of our misogyny study – which interviewed more than 1,000 teachers – found that many believe there to be a problem with misogynistic attitudes and behaviours among boys and young men, although as with parents, there is a greater tendency to see it as a big issue at schools other than their own.
Most secondary school teachers say that they see misogynistic behaviours often, and that the problem is getting worse.
Like parents, they are most likely to lay the blame at the door of social media influencers and users. However, unlike parents, most teachers also consider parents themselves to be a source of misogynistic influence.
How big a problem is misogyny in schools?
Almost half of teachers describe misogynistic attitudes and behaviours among boys at their school as being a problem (45%), including 9% who say it is a “very big” problem. Slightly more (50%) describe the problem as being minor or non-existent.
However, among those teaching in a secondary school, fully two-thirds (67%) see it as a problem, with 16% seeing it as a very big problem.
While many teachers see misogyny as an issue in their own schools, more still perceive it as being a problem at other schools. When asked how big the problem is in UK schools in general, more than three quarters consider it a big problem (78%), including 25% saying it is a very big problem.
And in terms of misogyny among boys and young men in society in general, 86% see a problem, including 37% branding it a very big one.
Teachers also perceive the problem to be getting worse. Most (54%) say the issue has become worse in recent years, rising to 60% of secondary school teachers. This view is held pretty consistently across teachers of all age groups, with the exception being the very youngest, who are somewhat less pessimistic.
How prevalent is misogyny in schools?
Speaking generally, a third of teachers (35%) say that boys very or fairly often openly express misogynistic attitudes or behaviours in the school at which they teach, rising to 54% among secondary school teachers.
More specifically, similar numbers of each group say they see boys directing misogynistic comments towards female pupils on at least a weekly basis.
Additionally, a quarter of teachers (24%) also say they are aware of misogynistic comments being made towards female staff on at least a weekly basis, including 39% of secondary school teachers.
Female teachers are slightly more likely to say they notice misogyny with greater levels of frequency than male teachers, particularly at the secondary school level. While 64% of female secondary school teachers say they are aware of misogynistic comments being made against female pupils happening weekly, this figure falls to 45% among male teachers.
Asked what misogynist behaviours they see from boys in their school, teachers most commonly brought up misogynist, sexist or negative comments, at 20% (many teachers did not go into more detail than saying “comments” or “misogynistic comments”). Others similarly spoke of the language boys were using (9%) and their attitudes (6%).
In terms of more specific behaviour described, 9% mentioned boys being less respectful to female teaching staff, or otherwise acting differently around male teachers – this was brought up by 11% of female teachers, including 19% of female teachers at secondary level.
Additionally, 6% said they encountered instances of boys expressing that girls can’t do or are worse at certain activities (football being a common example).
In more serious terms, 4% of teachers mentioned boys expressing intimidating behaviour or making threats, with 4% also saying they had encountered boys saying that women are inferior or that men are superior.
One in twenty (5%) say they detect the influence of Andrew Tate and other online influencers.
Where do teachers think misogyny is coming from?
Much of the media attention on the issue of misogyny has focussed on social media influencers like Andrew Tate, and teachers overwhelmingly see such figures as having an impact. Fully 81% say boys are picking up such misogynistic behaviours and attitudes from social media influencers, with 50% also saying they also stem from comments and posts on social media more broadly.
A majority also suggest that parents and other adult family members are passing these views on to children (64%).
Peer pressure is less likely to be seen as a reason for the spread of misogyny, although 40% still say older children are to blame, with 28% saying so of children in the same year.
Whose responsibility do teachers think it is to address misogyny, and are they doing enough?
With social media so widely considered a vector for misogynistic views, it is no surprise to see that teachers support a ban on under-16s using social media (88%) or having smartphones in schools (92%) – although this will be for wider reasons than misogyny alone.
Nevertheless, 70% of teachers see social media companies as having a “great deal” of responsibility for addressing the issue of misogyny – more than say so of the government (44%) and schools (26%), although fewer than the number who say parents have a great deal of responsibility (92%).
However, when it comes to who needs to be doing more, social media companies top the list. Fully 95% say such tech firms should be doing more, including 78% who say they need to be doing “much more” – slightly ahead of parents, of whom 94% of teachers think need to do more, including 73% saying “much more”.
Eight in ten teachers say the government needs to do more (81%), although with a significantly reduced rate of 41% saying they need to do “much more”.
Notably fewer teachers say schools need to be doing more (42%), including only 15% who say “much more”. Instead, teachers tend to say that schools are doing as much as can be reasonably expected (53%).
In terms of the way in which schools are addressing the issue of misogyny with pupils, this is primarily taking place in PSHE lessons. Almost two thirds (64%) say their school is taking steps to cover misogyny as part of PSHE, although only 23% say they are doing so outside of the context of these lessons. Among secondary school teachers, these figures rise to 73% and 32% respectively.
One in eight teachers (12%) say their school is not doing anything to address misogyny, including only 6% of secondary school teachers.
At similar rates, teachers say their schools are taking steps to talk to pupils about potential harms caused by social media influencers.
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Photo: Getty
