Radio phone-ins and newspaper articles were dominated recently by TUC research showing that more than half of women have been sexually harassed at work. But if that is the alarming diagnosis, the cure begins decades earlier - in nursery schools.

That, at least, is the view of Scotland’s biggest teaching union, the EIS, which has found shocking examples of misogyny against both pupils and teachers in schools.

And the best way to tackle sexism in education, according to its latest report, is to start before children have even set foot in primary school. Because years later, nascent sexism may lead to shocking scenes in secondary schools: extreme examples uncovered in the study included girls who apparently aspired to be beaten up by a pop star, and a vulnerable 13-year-old girl first exploited by an older boy, then shamed by her peers .

The report, Get It Right for Girls: challenging misogynistic attitudes among children and young people, sees such examples as part of a broader, more insidious problem whereby girls, as they grow up, do not gain the same standing and opportunities as men. “In the eyes of many in our society, women remain inferior to men,” the union says, citing the low proportion of women becoming MSPs and board members of Scottish organisations, and a big gender pay gap.

Family influences

The union is “concerned about the prevalence of such attitudes” in Scottish schools, colleges, universities and “even in our nurseries”. “Clearly, misogyny - a dislike for, contempt of or belief in the inferiority of women - begins to take root in the early years of a child’s development, much of it influenced by the home environment,” the report adds.

This, says Jenny Kemp, EIS national officer for education and equality, is why nurseries must lead in challenging such attitudes.

Pre-school staff usually embrace advice and training on gender and sexism, she explains, but at times the sector may be unwittingly promoting sexism. If, for example, pre-school girls are constantly told that they are pretty but no reference is made to boys’ physical appearance, says Kemp, staff are “reinforcing the idea that girls are ornamental”. Similarly, if boys are encouraged to play with dinosaurs while girls play in the “house corner”, potentially lasting messages are being sent out.

Early-years expert Professor Aline-Wendy Dunlop, of the University of Strathclyde, tells TESS that adults do have a tendency to “frame girls in terms of appearance and boys in terms of the object knowledge they have”. She says that while there are biological differences between boys and girls - and that “girls seem to be very socially wired, whereas boys might be more interested in how things work” - stereotypical, gender-based responses to children will blur their individual strengths.

EIS focus groups suggest that misogyny rears its head in a variety of ways in schools, from “overt sexual bullying” to casual sexist comments passed off as humour. In a minority of cases, girls are perpetrators, and some show little concern about misogyny and casual sexism. The report finds that educational establishments need more support to devise coherent approaches to promoting gender equality and tackling sexual harassment of girls.

Impact on wellbeing

Zero Tolerance, a Scottish charity working to end violence against women and challenge attitudes that normalise violence and abuse, lent its support to the report. Co-director Laura Tomson says: “As they go through school, misogynistic attitudes teach girls that they are worth less than boys, that they have fewer rights and limited career choices.

“The impact on girls’ wellbeing and life chances can be immense. Misogyny is not ‘boys being boys’ and it is never ‘just a bit of fun’.”

The report points to previous research showing that, from the age of 11 to 15, girls and boys strive for identities which conform to cultural norms around gender, and are quick to highlight any deviation from expectations.

This “gender policing” can lead to a “social backlash” against nonconformists in the shape of bullying; and resisting it “requires great emotional effort”.

The norms of teen behaviour are morphing, too. Teachers tell researchers of an expectation among pupils that their peers should engage in pornography, an industry whose output children are accessing at an ever-younger age thanks to technology and social media. One teacher was concerned that six pupils in a P1-2 class who were Facebook users might be exposed to unsuitable material. Pornography, EIS focus group notes suggest, is “reinforcing the image of girls as passive objects”.

Female teachers, meanwhile, report pupils calling them “whore”, “skank”, “bitch”, “c***” and “fat,” but there is a view that this kind of behaviour is rarely personal - instead, it reflects “societal sexual codes and beauty standards”.

Monique Miller, a former Perth Academy pupil who left school this summer, took part in Inspiring Young Women, a 2015 event at Parliament to help young women build their confidence and leadership skills.

She says that the project “ignited the fire in my belly and made me more militant in demanding equality for all minority groups, but in particular women”. She and three fellow pupils set about organising their own event, Challenge to Make a Change, and in March this year took to the stage at the Perth Concert Hall to address 200 delegates, having devised workshops on sexism, sexualisation, leadership and confidence.

Although they won praise for their activism from teachers, other pupils were not always as impressed, and Miller recalls having to fight her corner: “Challenge to Make a Change was not, as some school peers suggested, about excluding men from the conversation, nor is it about female ‘superiority’.”

Calling time on misogyny

Emma Ritch, executive director of Scottish feminist organisation Engender, says: “Before we can effectively challenge norms about girls’ and boys’ roles in life, we must call time on misogyny in places of education.”

Misogyny “pervades Scotland’s schools and colleges”, says Ritch, despite “some progress towards gender equality”. Her organisation finds that attempts to encourage girls into male-dominated school subjects or careers are “constrained by the sexist ‘banter’, sexual harassment, and sexualised bullying that many girls experience”.

For Kemp, the EIS research shows that misogyny and sexism are taking new forms - although concerns about social media were not as widespread as she had predicted - and that priorities have changed, with stalking at the forefront of public debate like domestic violence was 20 years ago.

But misogyny remains a stubborn problem, with the experience in Scottish schools a mirror to wider attitudes. And the report’s message to teachers and lecturers is clear: “The failure to challenge expressions of misogyny, either mild or marked, leads to the entrenchment of gender inequalities within society as a whole.”