Dr Lara Wood, Reader in Socio-Cognitive Development at Abertay University, argues that to end sexism and misogyny in schools, we need to start young and be proactive in positively challenging children’s behaviour.

My 11-year-oldo daughter was recently told by a classmate that men get better jobs because women don’t work as hard. A week earlier, my 7yo son was excluded from play based on his gender. Such sexist behaviour is sadly common in UK schools - but common doesn’t mean acceptable. Teachers clearly strive to make the victim feel better but seem uncertain as to how to tackle the offending behaviour.

So, what can schools do to help end sexism in schools?

I am a Developmental Psychologist researching how children acquire and perpetuate Gender Stereotypes. I work with ages four-years to adulthood, using various methods to understand the problem and explore solutions.

Children learn gender stereotypes from observing their cultural environments; what they see (e.g., the dominance of women in childcare), what they are told (e.g., “women make better nurses”), and what they observe in media (e.g., that women are meek and need rescuing). These influences have a profound and early impact on how children perceive gender and themselves.

My research has shown how this influence operates even when the stereotype is patently false. Analysis of anthropomorphised talking animals in films such as Zootopia, Madagascar, and the Lion King revealed strong gender stereotyping. Predatory animals like foxes tend to be voiced by men, while prey animals like rabbits are voiced by women. In nature, of course, most species have roughly equal numbers of males and females. Yet, these films implicitly tell children that males are predators and females are prey—and society is then surprised when children start to behave that way.

It may seem like a stretch to claim that these films contribute to misogyny in schools. However, our empirical studies show that children as young as four were reproducing the same inaccurate predator-male and prey-female associations portrayed in the films. These children didn’t learn these patterns from real-life experiences—they learned them from cultural products.

The predator-prey stereotype is just one example. Decades of research paint a similar picture. From the moment of “gender reveals” in utero, children are gendered by society. They are told gender is crucial and is important and that genders differ in fundamental elements far beyond biological sex differences. This is a lot for a developing brain to process and resultingly young children interpret these social categories as absolute and essential truths.

Another concerning pattern emerging in primary school is soft segregation. Children in nurseries and pre-schools have a high degree of cross-gender friendships but this starkly declines over the first few years of primary school. This has a big impact on children’s behaviour and choices throughout the rest of the school life. For example, adolescent’s subject choices are highly influenced by what friends are choosing, and most friends are same gender. This contributes significantly to the gender inequity that we see in most of our GCSE/Nat 5 subjects with males continuing to dominate technical subjects and girls dominating the arts.

We know what the issues are, but what can be done about it. Psychologists have been investigating this for decades and I can offer the below recommendations.

1.   Start young. Primary schools should embed anti-sexist teaching from the start of the curriculum and in every facet of school life from literacy (e.g., classroom books – see End Sexism In Schools) to leisure time (e.g., layout of the playground – see Make Space For Girls).

2.   Treat sexism as seriously as other prejudice. In the example above with my daughter, if gender was replaced with a racial, religious, or national group, the slur might see more serious. However, sexism is a serious societal issue and children’s sexist behaviour should be managed as seriously as racist behaviour. Unchecked sexist behaviour will manifest in harmful behaviour in schools.

3.  Support victims. Show children you take sexist behaviour seriously by standing with victims and addressing perpetrators. When authority figures reject sexism, kids feel empowered to do the same.

4.  Be positive not punitive. Children often repeat societal messages as they explore their social world. These should be challenged, but not harshly. Instead, guide children to understand why such views are harmful and how to think differently. In later years, signpost boys to resources focussing on positive masculinity such as Beyond Equality

5.  Raise awareness of sexism, particularly in boys. Our research shows that boys show less awareness of gender stereotypes than girls and yet their behaviour is more likely to be gendered and influenced by gender stereotypes. Schools can help raise male awareness of the inaccuracy of stereotypes, their influence, and related issues of sexism and misogyny. See Education Scotland for some great resources

6.  Discourage soft segregation and encourage cross-gender friendships. Although most UK schools are mixed gender, most show soft segregation. Research on prejudice and discrimination shows that social group segregation is a significant influencing factor. Effective inter-group contact where all boys and girls feel valued, equal, and work together, can serve as highly effective interventions.

7.  Harness peer influence. Same-age children can have a huge influence on peers. Aim to celebrate children who effectively challenge gender stereotypes. Their behaviour and testimony can serve as a valuable teaching tool.

8.  Evaluate teaching materials. Teachers can review books and media to avoid sexist content. Quality resources show balanced gender representation, minimal stereotypes, and celebrate anti-stereotypic characters. Groups like End Sexism In Schools highlight these issues in secondary school materials, and this work should extend to earlier education too.

Sexism and misogyny remain widespread, And schools may feel overwhelmed by the scale of the issue. Yet schools are uniquely positioned to be part of the solution. Children aren't born sexist—they learn it. By recognising how this socialisation happens and giving schools the tools to interrupt it, we can take a crucial step toward ending sexism.