Students’ perceptions of gender mainstreaming implementation in university teaching in Greece

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the status of gender mainstreaming implementation in university teaching in Greek higher education institutions by examining the education students receive regarding gender equality. The Sensitive Assessment of Training for Gender Equality index was used to collect data from 1,194 students from nine Greek public universities over four degrees (Teacher Education, Physical Education, Greek Philology, and Science). The students were purposely selected through an online survey. Participants were between 20 and 53 years old, mostly female (79%) and Greek (98.20%). Findings revealed that formal preparation for gender mainstreaming implementation in university teaching is practically nonexistent. While respondents rated positively the need for incorporating a gender perspective into curricula, recognizing its importance in reducing sexism, developing gender competencies and practicing a gender-sensitive pedagogy, their views differed in the emphasis that should be given to gender training. Science students were less demanding than school teaching, physical education and Greek philology students, as well as male than female students. Additionally, the participants rated institutions’ and educators’ commitment to gender equality as neutral and did not recognize existing gender inequalities. This suggests that gender mainstreaming is poorly considered in Greek higher education at institutional, curricular, and relational level.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender equality training
• university students’ perceptions
• higher education
• gender mainstreaming
• Greece
• scale validation

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the UA Institute for Gender Studies Research, under Grant Ref. 20/01/2021.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Greece’s development programme financed by the European Union’s European Structural Funds

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the UA University Institute for Gender Studies Research [Ref. BOUA/19/11/2020]; Vice Chancellor of Quality and Innovation [Ref. 5195/2020-2021]; Vice Chancellor of Educational Quality and Innovation [Ref. 4877/2019-2020].

Notes on contributors

Ioanna Kitta

Ioanna Kitta is a PhD student at the University of Alicante, University Institute for Gender Studies Research, in Spain. She has a Master’s degree in Physical Education and Sports and another one in Spanish Literature and Language. Currently, she works as a teacher of Physical Education in a public primary school in Athens, Greece. She has studied extensively six foreign languages and is fluent in all of them. Her research interests focus on linguistic and socio-educational diversity, gender equality and inclusion.

María-Cristina Cardona-Moltó

María-Cristina Cardona-Moltó is a Professor at the University of Alicante, Faculty of Education, in Spain, where she coordinated the PhD program ‘Attention to Diversity in Educational Contexts’ from 2002 to 2012. She regularly teaches classes at postgraduate level on research and diagnosis methods in education, pedagogies of difference and inclusive education. Currently, she is the director of the research group ‘Diversity, Education and Gender’. Her research interests include teacher education in respect of diversity, gender equality and inclusion; topics on which she has published extensively. She has held visiting professorships at various international institutions and served as an academic expert of the National Social Science Commission for teacher verification programs (2007-2012) in Spain as well as President of the Spanish Educational Research Association (AIDIPE) during the period 2011-2013.