Index: Girls and Women Teachers in Schools
These statistics are drawn from research conducted in the UK, Australia, and the US and are meant to provide an environmental snapshot.
Between 46% and 73% of girls report being called a gendered slur (e.g., "bitch," "slut," "ho") by peers before age 18.
Almost a quarter (24%) of girls attending mixed-gender schools have had unwanted physical touching of a sexual nature while at school compared to 4% of boys.
Black girls report a 67% likelihood of experiencing unwanted sexual touching/grabbing in school, compared to other students.
1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys ages 12–18 report experiencing sexual harassment, coercion, sextortion, deepfake nudes, other forms of sexualized abuse. LGBTQ+ girls are 3x more likely to be targeted than their straight peers.
11% of girls experience sexual violence at school, including harassment by staff.
Between 2019-2024 reported rates of sexual violence against adolescent girls in the US increased by 27%.
More than half (58%) of girls in mixed sex schools have experienced or witnessed sexual harassment at school.
24. 37% of girls report experiencing sexual harassment in schools compared to 6% of boys. Female students are also significantly more likely to describe multiple incidents and more severe cases of sexual assault. They are also less likely to dismiss their experience as ‘a joke.’
68% of image-based bullying and abuse cases at school are perpetrated by boys.
Forty-two per cent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth have been “ridiculed, mocked or threatened at school”, mainly by other students.
One in 16 girls ages 14-18 have been raped, including one in 10 Black and Native girls and one in seven LGBTQ girls.
Girls who have been sexually assault are 3x more likely to drop out of HS and 2x more likely to leave college.
58% of women, 26% of men, and 45% of gender-expansive students have experienced unwanted choking, slapping, or being spat on during otherwise consensual sex.
15% of high school students report awareness of AI-generated deepfake non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) involving peers during the 2023-24 school year.
10. 39% of students have heard about NCII involving someone from their school.
11. 43% of teachers who knew about deepfakes at their school say teachers and administrators were depicted.
12. 58% of these teachers say students are victims.
13. Only 5% of teachers say their schools provide resources to help victims remove harmful images online.
14. Over 50% of teachers receive no guidance on handling NCII incidents.
15. 60% of primary school and 75% of secondary school teachers agree that the influence of online misogyny over their students is extremely concerning.
16. In the UK, nearly half of women teachers have experienced physical abuse or violence in the past year, compared to 36% of male teachers. Over a quarter of female teachers reported being hit or punched, more than double the rate for male teachers.
Almost one in three (32%) teachers in mixed-sex secondary schools witness sexual harassment in their school on at least a weekly basis.
Over a third (38%) of secondary school teachers in mixed-sex schools are aware of students being sent or exposed to pornography at school.
76% of secondary school teachers and 60% of primary school teachers report being "extremely concerned" about the influence of online misogyny in their schools.
12% of primary school teachers observed boys engaging in discriminatory and “inappropriate” behavior linked to online misogyny.
In a recent Australian study, 46.9% of teachers report experiencing sexual harassment within a school environment. Of these, 93.9% are women, 47.9% of whom say they had personally been sexually harassed.
15% of women teachers vs. 8% of men report student-perpetrated sexual harassment.
83% of American teachers report physical assaults and 64% report verbal abuse; 55% report sexual harassment. There is no category for gendered harassment. However, sexual harassment, when reported, is most likely to be investigated and reported to the police instead of handled as a matter of school discipline.
22 percent of teachers experiencing sexual or physical assault say they often or always feel unsafe in their schools afterwards. 30% often or always think about leaving teaching.
Transgender/non-binary teachers experience the highest rates of student targeting, including 20% who report physical assault (vs. 9% male / 10% female teachers) and 23% who report sexual harassment (8% male / 15% female teachers)
80% of all educators report regular safety concerns.
30. 38% of secondary school teachers in the UK report male pupils making misogynistic comments; 14% cite male pupils engaging in discriminatory or inappropriate behaviour, and 14% of teachers report male pupils disrespecting female members of staff relative to male members of staff.
At primary school level, 23% of teachers referenced their male pupils making misogynistic comments,
Women teachers in the U.S. earn about $2,200 less per year than men annually, controlling for experience and school types.
A quarter of women educators vs. 6% of males cite workplace sexual harassment/assault, often perpetrated by colleagues or administrators,
Women educators report persistent bias and sexism in hiring, promotions, and salaries. Women are more likely, for instance, to be promoted to elementary principalships than to high school principalships.
Even though about half of high school assistant principals are women, they are 5–7% less likely than men to be promoted to principal, depending on race.
More than 50% of women educators say they have been passed over for leadership positions that ultimately went to men..
Nearly nine in 10 women report pressure to dress, speak, or behave a certain way because of being women in a senior leadership role.
Sixty-three percent of women say their professional judgement is doubted more frequently than that of male counterparts.
Sixty-five percent are expected to take on extra responsibilities that men are not including taking notes, working late, and organizing office celebrations.
Nationally, almost 80% of teachers are women, but women are only 30% of district leaders.
Married mothers are more likely to be school volunteers, primary parent for sick children calls, serve on PTA, manage school logistics and homework support, and show up for school special events. Fathers in two-parent families are significantly less likely than mothers in either type of family or fathers in single-parent families to participate in school-related parenting activities.