During their lifetime, each fifth student was exposed to a form of sexual harassment and not only in education institutions. In the educational environment, 20% of the students who took part in the study consider sexual harassment cannot be avoided in the relations between the student and the teacher, IPN reports.
The study is presented by the Center “Partnership for Development”. “The licentious looks and gestures, unpermitted hugs, use of filthy words or jokes and other subtle forms are perceived as harassment by only 34.6% of the students. Such mild forms as invitations to a date in exchange for advantages or favors or unpermitted kisses are also not regarded as sexual harassment by more than a half of those interviewed,” said study author Alexandra Ermolenco.
The survey shows the young people who face severe forms consider sexual harassment is a minor problem or that the harassed persons cause such situations themselves by the way they dress or behave. Compared with the girls, the young men who are exposed to severe forms of harassment are more unwilling to report such cases.
Co-author Natalia Covrig noted that one third of the surveyed students experienced at least one form of sexual harassment in the education institution. More than half of these faced subtle forms that imply primarily comments, looks, etc. Over 26% of them met with mild forms that imply undue hugs and unwanted kisses, while over 20% experienced severe forms. The last include the demand to have sex, threats or even use of force for having sex.
“The teachers are at the top of the list of those who resorted to particular acts of sexual harassment. We see that the proportion is rather high when we speak about cases of harassment. One in ten students was threatened by the teacher for having sex. 4% of the students said the teachers used force to make them have sex with them. 8% were invited by teachers to romantic meetings for a reward in the education system. It seems that it is not such a large figure in percentage – 4%, 7%, 8% – but if we convert these into numbers, we realize that rather many students experienced severe forms of sexual harassment on the part of the teacher,” explained the author.
The research shows 36% of the students didn’t report cases of harassment. However, those who speak about cases of harassment prefer to tell about this to close people. The administration of the institution and the police are not among those to which the students would report such cases. “This confirms that the students have such feelings as fright, embarrassment, fear of being blamed by society. On the other hand, this indirectly shows that there is no confidence in the responsible institutions, primarily the police,” stated Natalia Covrig.
The study was carried out in the framework of the project “Advocacy for Better Protection against Discrimination” and covered a sample of 1,242 students aged between 16 and 22.
