One in five women experience unwanted sexual contact at school, study suggests

One in five women report to have experienced unwanted sexual contact ‘in or around’ school, according to a new study from children’s charity Plan UK.

Plan UK interviewed 3,700 people over the age of 18 in the UK, including more than 2,000 women.

22 per cent of women surveyed reported to have experienced sexual touching, groping, flashing, sexual assault or rape, of which 61 per cent said they did not report the incidents to a teacher or person in authority.

Tanya Barron, of Plan UK, said: “Our findings show that schoolgirls have been suffering in silence for decades. We know that these experiences can have a devastating impact on their lives.

“Unwanted sexual contact can affect a young girl’s self-esteem and educational achievements. It is extremely worrying to see that girls have been experiencing unwanted sexual contact in or around school since at least the 1940s.”

The problem was not limited to females, with one in three adults aged between 18 and 24 across both genders reporting experiencing unwanted sexual contact in or around school.

In light of these findings, Plan UK is calling for greater support for teachers to prevent incidents of unwanted sexual contact, as well as high-quality statutory sex and relationships education to teach young people about issues of consent and healthy relationships, and ensuring bullying policies address gender and sexual violence, providing a safe environment for pupils to report concerns.

In response to the study, a government spokesperson said: “No young woman should be made to feel unsafe or suffer harassment in any circumstance.

“Sexual assault is a crime and must always be reported to the police. Sex and relationship education is already compulsory in all maintained secondary schools and we expect academies and free schools to teach it as part of the curriculum.

“We are also working with leading head teachers and practitioners to look at how to raise the quality of PSHE teaching, which includes sex and relationship education.”