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UK government urged to tackle toxic masculinity in schools

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A cross-party group of MPs on the Commons’ Women and Equalities Committee has called for a strategy to focus on male pupils who are failing to engage with relationship and sex education.

According to a study by the Commons’ Women and Equalities Committee, sexual harassment and abuse of female pupils and staff is a ‘scourge’ in British schools.

For this reason, the cross-party group of MPs is calling for a government-led strategy to focus on boys who are failing to engage with relationship and sex education (RSHE).

The inquiry, which also said that some institutions still aren’t acknowledging the problem of violence against women and girls, stresses that there should be training for all teachers to help them hold conversations with young men about sexual harassment and gender-based violence in a way that challenges prevailing gender norms and toxic masculinity.

They have additionally requested that RSHE be made compulsory up to the age of 18 in sixth forms and colleges, warning that without it students risk taking their first steps in the adult world ‘under-supported and less equipped to navigate potentially harmful and dangerous situations.’

Evidence currently suggests that the RSHE lessons being taught are ‘less applicable’ and engaging for boys.

On the back of revelations that negative attitudes towards women and girls were exacerbated by the pandemic – when children were studying remotely, often with unsupervised access to the internet – a review of the RHSE curriculum is under way.

It’s set to examine how easy access to pornography has ‘completely changed the culture in the playground’ and the ‘corrosive impact’ this is having.

‘Education is a powerful tool in combatting harmful attitudes towards women and girls and preventing violence,’ said committee chair, Caroline Nokes.

‘It is crucial that mandatory RSHE continues past secondary school. We also need a specific focus on engaging boys and young men in RHSE and we expect the government to consider this in its ongoing RSHE review.’

But with the scale of this problem already exposed in 2021 by the Everyone’s Invited movement, which attracted tens of thousands of testimonies from girls detailing peer-on-peer misconduct, the committee is pushing for the development of further guidance to support educators in engaging ‘the lockdown generation’ of male pupils about consent.

Sex education must engage boys to tackle harassment - MPs - BBC News

They also said that teachers must do more to address the harmful use of mobiles, after Ofsted found that sexual harassment had become ‘normalised’ for schoolchildren and inspectors were told that boys were sharing ‘nudes’ among themselves like a ‘collection game’ via their smartphones, as well as cyberflashing hardcore images to girls in the corridor.

To put this into perspective, the latest Department for Education figures show that the number of pupils suspended for sexual misconduct in state schools in England in 2021-22 reached the highest level seen since at least 2016-17.

During this period, 4,215 pupils were suspended for sexual misconduct and 88 pupils were permanently excluded.

‘Sexual harassment and sexual violence continues to be a scourge in our schools, with many girls and women feeling powerless,’ reads the MPs’ report.

‘The issues are longstanding and warnings have been frequent. It is saddening that it took the public testimonies of thousands of school-aged children for Ofsted and the schools they inspect to acknowledge the seriousness of the problem.’

Feature Media Manager & Senior Writer London, UK

Sofia (She/Her) – I’m the Feature Media Manager and a Senior Writer at Thred, specialising in exclusive articles and live interviews, fashion and beauty with a focus on sustainability, women’s rights, psychedelics, and Latin America. I studied Spanish at the University of Exeter and International Journalism at City, London. Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

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