“They call my fellow students “doctor” and me “girl, sister.” “At the Faculty of Medicine, the phrase was heard many times that this specialty is not for women (…) you need to remember about the family.” “Because I’m a man and I’m studying pedagogy, some of my fellow students think I can’t do it.” These were some of the students’ spontaneous responses when asked if they experienced or experienced discrimination or inequality in University. One of the reasons they spoke out was because they were talking to their classmates.

OUR study “Gender inequality and stereotypes in the university” conducted by a research company Strawberry on behalf of the organization Lean In Network Greece, but it was run by students from the Panhellenic Independent Student Movement (PaNKS), who distributed questionnaires on the premises of the university (among them OPA, Faculty of Law of the Hellenic National University of Athens, Hellenic National Academy of Sciences, Hellenic National University of Athens, National Technical University, Pantheon University, University of Piraeus, Harokopio). It was a challenge for members of PANKS, a liberal organization that some of the organized or other factions are not well received. “We were also discriminated against in schools for our beliefs,” says Dimitris Damianos, a fourth-year student at the NTUA School of Electrical Engineering and a member of the organization. However, it seems that discrimination is a horizontal issue. “When we said we wanted to ask questions about equality, there was a response. The students, men and women, sat down to answer us.”

One in five students say they are discriminated against on the basis of gender, and 16% of women and 12% of men received negative feedback about their appearance.

One in five male and female students experienced gender, socio-economic status, dating, political beliefs, etc. 16% of women and 12% of men received negative comments about their appearance, often related to the subject of the study (“Purple hair and the earrings don’t fit a medical student”, “You’re too small to buy”). When asked what obstacles hinder their learning, both men and women cited inequity in assessment (34% of men, 30% of women), with women also pointing to a high degree of gender discrimination (20% compared to 7% in men). criticism that their topic does not match their gender (18% versus 4% for men). The second biggest barrier to learning for men is university violence (25% versus 16% for women). However, 35% of men do not agree that there is inequality in relation to women at the university.

Discrimination… from the future

However, discrimination often comes… from the future. Every fifth student believes that finding a job that satisfies her is completely or unlikely, and almost 30% believe that they will not find a satisfactorily paid job. “Obviously the problem starts with soft nails,” says Areti Georgili, co-director of Lean In Network Greece (Athens). “The future for women seems to be set, even for those who are willing to fight for it. Our efforts to achieve equality in practice and change these perceptions must start from a very young age.”