Fighting sexism on campus

Roza Kwiecinska, Newham and East London Socialist Party

Universities might champion themselves as places of liberal freedom and advocate for human rights and feminism. But the experience of staff and students is very different. When it comes to providing fair job opportunities for everyone, regardless of gender, and protecting women from sexual assault, universities still fail.

On campus, sexism is a problem that takes many forms. From unfair grading of assessments based on gender, to comments about women students’ appearance, clothing and makeup. There is no inherent biological advantage for male students, but there is a huge underestimation of women students.

Education has the third-highest gender pay gap out of all the UK sectors, worse than manufacturing, mining and retail. Although women make up around half of university lecturers, they are significantly outnumbered in higher academic positions. Only 24% of professors are women. Even fewer women hold top roles, with just 18% as vice-chancellors or principals.

Women students also experience shockingly high levels of sexual harassment and sexual violence, both on and off the university campus. From ‘casual’ teasing to online trolling, harassment and physical attacks.

Campus should be a safe space for all students, no matter their gender, sexual orientation or race. It should not only be a place of learning, but also a place of integration, friendships and discovering yourself.

One terrifying statistic is that 97% of young women (18-24) in the UK have been sexually harassed. Many of these incidents happen in education and learning environments. This shows that right now, for many people, university is not that safe a place.

Research by the Young Women’s Trust found that young women who endure sexism in the UK are “five times more likely to suffer from clinical depression” and that “younger women who had experienced sexism were more likely to report greater psychological distress even four years following a sexist experience.”

University is a place where students are not only stressed about grades, additional jobs they have to do, finding an apartment, but where women are exposed to sexism, leaving long-lasting impacts, including on mental health.

Universities are not doing enough to tackle sexism and sexual harassment. 72% of students don’t know or are unsure about where to report or seek support. When women are brave enough to speak out, many find that it backfires. Women face diminishment or silencing: it is disgraceful that universities in England have used non-disclosure agreements to silence those who have experienced sexual harassment and violence.

Procedures for reporting sexual harassment should be managed by committees led by trade unions and students. This would ensure that the processes are effectively implemented and accessible to those who need them, fostering a zero-tolerance policy for harassment and abuse on campus.

For too long, the universities have overlooked survivors, enabled a ‘rape culture’, and prioritised profits over the safety of students. There has to be increased funding and support for student services, and a commitment to taking action against violent behaviours.

Seemingly small things like improved lighting around campus and housing at night, and accessible transport links to campus are important too. The safety of women students is priceless and should not be compromised. We need a fully funded, free public transport network, so that people can get home safely. Socialist Students has led campaigns to fight for these measures, such as the campaign to save the Liverpool night bus.

It is mindblowing that students not only have to pay huge sums of money for education, but also are exposed to harassment and sexism. Building a movement for free education is essential – scrapping fees and debt and introducing living student grants. We fight for full government funding to provide a safe and free education for all.

These problems are not new. In 2010, the National Union of Students (NUS) published a report finding: “One in seven respondents had experienced a serious physical or sexual assault during their time as a student, 12% had been stalked while at university or college, and 68% had been a victim of one or more kinds of sexual harassment while they were at university.”

Following the report, NUS strategy focused on promoting ‘zero-tolerance’ policies in students union bars. But like the ‘Ask for Angela’ scheme, unions have been accredited without investing in the training for staff and bouncers, or staffing levels, to make it enforceable.

There has also been a focus on educating students about consent, often working alongside university management.

It is essential to focus on education and training; we must confront prejudices, gender stereotypes, and sexist behaviour whenever we encounter them. Though who delivers it and how is important.

However, education alone has clearly not been enough to solve the problem. One problem is that strategies based on ‘raising awareness’ can reduce the issue to just an individual problem or behaviour. Socialist Students understands that individual behaviour is influenced by the broader economic and social system we live in, which is capitalism.

Since capitalism benefits from perpetuating gender inequality, individuals are constantly being bombarded with ideas that reinforce sexism and misogyny. Sexism is a systemic issue, and requires systemic solutions. 

Take social media, for example. We live in a world where the impact of social media is massive. Misogynistic messages are targeted at boys and young men. Social media has been monetised to make huge profits for social media companies as well as individual ‘influencers’. Individuals like Andrew Tate or Ben Shapiro have made millions from using sexist rhetoric to explain the economic crisis and ‘crisis of masculinity’. And they prefer to blame minorities, immigrants and women for the effects of a capitalist world – propping up capitalism through reactionary ideas.

Additionally, access to online pornography has left children and young people, especially young men, with a misguided representation of women, men, and what sexual relationships look like. Porn created under a capitalist system reinforces harmful stereotypes and objectifies women and doesn’t show the act of consent, which is crucial in any relationship. As much as 90% of it is violent – normalising sexual violence against women.

Education can cut through these ideas, but it won’t stop them being promoted in the first place. The Socialist Party calls for the social media companies to be brought into public ownership to remove the profit incentive behind the spread of misogynistic and divisive ideas, and for them to be run and controlled democratically. For example, by subjecting algorithms to scrutiny by trade unions, young people, educators and others. The same goes for all of the major corporations and businesses that also profit from sexism.

This is why Socialist Students recognises that the fight to end sexism and misogyny is not separate from the fight to bring an end to the capitalist system as a whole and for the socialist transformation of society.