Half of girls heard misogynistic comments in a single week at school
What happened
On 26 September 2026 the Education Secretary set out a new plan to tackle misogyny in schools in England. It is described as a whole-school approach. Schools will get a practical framework, along with resources including guides, teacher training and support for parents. The idea is that tackling harmful attitudes is not confined to one lesson, but runs through classroom teaching, enrichment activities, pastoral support and how pupils behave outside the school gates. The data behind it is stark. New figures show that half of girls - 50% - reported hearing misogynistic comments from other pupils during a single week at school in May. Nearly a third of Year 10 and 11 pupils, 30%, said they had recently heard comments that made them worry about the safety of girls. The plan builds on the strengthened Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum now being taught in schools, which covers healthy relationships, recognising harmful behaviour and navigating online risks including deepfakes. To support teachers, the government is investing £150,000 in a new RSHE expert advisory group, which will bring together expert organisations and practitioners to develop resources for teaching sensitive topics. Two new programmes also began work that week under the government's £16 million Violence Against Women and Girls Prevention Programme, one of which works with secondary pupils on attitudes towards healthy relationships. The announcement came alongside a separate partnership with major employers, announced the same day by the Minister for Women and Equalities, Bridget Phillipson.
Why this matters
The 50% figure is the one to sit with for a moment. That is not half of girls over a year, or half over a school career. It is half of girls in one week. That tells you this is not about a few bad incidents. It is about the ordinary background noise of some school corridors. The second figure matters differently. Thirty per cent of Year 10 and 11 pupils - so 14 to 16 year olds, boys and girls - said they had heard comments that made them worry about girls' safety. That is pupils themselves saying something has gone beyond rudeness. There is a health dimension that is easy to overlook. Girls who feel unsafe or belittled at school are more likely to experience anxiety, low mood, disordered eating and school avoidance. Those are not vague worries; they are the sorts of problems that end up in a GP's consulting room. Some of what looks like a pastoral problem in a school shows up later as a health problem in a clinic. And it matters for boys too, which the framing of these stories often misses. Boys are the main audience for the online content driving a lot of this, and being drawn into it is not good for them either. A boy who has absorbed the idea that contempt is the same as confidence is being poorly served.
What the evidence actually says
Some caution is needed on the numbers. The government describes them as 'new data' from a week in May, but the announcement does not name the survey, the sample size or the method. Self-reported survey data about what pupils heard in a week is genuinely useful, but it is not the same as a count of verified incidents, and comparisons over time need the same survey repeated the same way. The figures are best read as a strong signal rather than a precise measurement. It is also worth being honest about what is being funded. The £150,000 for an RSHE expert advisory group is a small sum in education terms - it funds a group to produce resources, not a programme delivered in classrooms. The £16 million Violence Against Women and Girls Prevention Programme is larger, but it is a pre-existing programme, with two new strands starting, rather than new money announced this week. The substance of the announcement is therefore mostly a framework, guidance and training, rather than a large spending commitment. That is not automatically a criticism. School culture is genuinely changed by consistent daily practice more than by budgets, and a framework that helps teachers respond consistently may matter more than a fund. But it does mean the plan will succeed or fail on implementation in individual schools, and there is currently no published measure of how that will be assessed. On the underlying question, the research base is reasonably clear that whole-school approaches - where expectations are consistent across staff, lessons and behaviour policy - work better than one-off assemblies or single lessons. That is the approach being taken, which is encouraging.
Practical advice
For parents and carers, the most useful thing is usually a conversation rather than a confrontation. Ask open questions rather than leading ones. 'What do people at school say about that?' tends to get further than 'You don't believe that, do you?' Young people close down fast if they think the answer will get them in trouble. Take an interest in what they watch rather than banning it blind. Knowing which creators your child follows gives you something to talk about. Outright bans often just move the viewing somewhere you cannot see it. If you do want tools, the NSPCC and Internet Matters both publish clear, free guidance on settings and conversations by age. If your daughter is experiencing this, believe her first and ask what she wants to happen second. Many girls do not report because they expect the response to be worse than the problem. Your school should have a designated safeguarding lead, and you are entitled to ask to speak to them and to see the school's behaviour policy. If your son is being drawn into this content, avoid shaming him. Contempt is what the content sells; meeting it with more contempt tends to confirm the story it tells him. Curiosity works better than horror. Watch for health signs in either case: not wanting to go to school, sleeping badly, stomach aches with no clear cause, changes in eating, withdrawing from friends. If those persist for more than a couple of weeks, your GP is a reasonable place to start, and you can ask for an appointment without your child being in the room first. For school staff, the practical point from the research is consistency. A comment challenged by one teacher and ignored by the next teaches pupils that the rule is optional.
What to know
New government data shows 50% of girls heard misogynistic comments from other pupils in a single week at school in May, and 30% of Year 10 and 11 pupils recently heard comments that made them worry about girls' safety. The Education Secretary has announced a whole-school framework with guides, teacher training and parent support, £150,000 for an RSHE expert advisory group, and two new strands of the existing £16 million Violence Against Women and Girls Prevention Programme. The survey details are not published, so treat the numbers as a strong signal rather than a precise count. The plan is mostly framework and training rather than large new funding, and will live or die on how consistently individual schools apply it. For parents: ask open questions, take an interest rather than banning blind, believe a daughter who tells you, and do not shame a son who has been drawn in. Sources: Department for Education, 'Education Secretary unveils plan for schools to tackle misogyny', 26 September 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/education-secretary-unveils-plan-for-schools-to-tackle-misogyny ; Government Equalities Office, 'Businesses lead pledge to champion women's equality and root out misogyny', 26 September 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/businesses-lead-pledge-to-champion-womens-equality-and-root-out-misogyny ; NSPCC, 'Online safety advice for parents', https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/ This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional.
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