Gender-based harassment of female teachers and students is a work health and safety issue that must be taken seriously.
That was the key message of IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Carol Matthews in her interview with ABC Illawarra Mornings host Nick Rheinberger on 30 July.
“It is really important to the culture of a school, and also health and safety, that teachers and female students do not feel under attack from attitudes from boys, which are hostile and aggressive towards females,” she told Rheinberger.
Take misogyny seriously
Matthews said it was vital that schools recognise gender-based harassment of female teachers and students and take it seriously.
“If teachers are under attack because of this sort of behaviour by students, it’s not just a discipline issue, it’s a misogyny issue,” she said.
Matthews said male students were often more hostile and aggressive towards female teachers.
“That doesn’t reflect on the competence or abilities of the female teacher,” she said.
“It’s just that the boys who are aggressive are more likely to have a go at female teachers, and that reflects an attitude towards women – that they are of lesser value and can be bossed around.”
Harmful ideas from the manosphere – online spaces that promote misogyny and male supremacy – are infiltrating classrooms and leading to increasing incidents of harassment and violence against female teachers and students.
The IEU is at the forefront of combating the manosphere by calling on school employers to fulfil their legal obligations to provide safe workplaces.
The union has also supported research to understand and disrupt the manosphere’s influence on students and provides professional development for teachers and school staff to respond to gender-based harassment and violence.
Devastating impact
Matthews told Rheinberger that the impact of gender-based harassment and violence can be “devastating”.
It also makes classroom management challenging, let alone trying to create a nurturing classroom environment, Matthews said.
Gender-based harassment such as body shaming and sexist comments also impacts female students, making them feel unsafe and less likely to participate in the classroom.
Research by Monash University academics Dr Naomi Pfitzner and Dr Stephanie Wescott, who spoke at the IEU’s June Council, shows the importance of a “whole school approach” to combating the manosphere.
Matthews said schools need a clear plan to tackle gender-based harassment and violence and take it seriously.
“You can’t have a situation where some teachers might just say, ‘Oh, boys will be boys’ and downplay a remark,” she said.
“It’s really important that all teachers are part of the project and are working towards making schools safer for both boys and girls.”