Students at Australia’s top universities facing gender-based discrimination from peers

Male students say universities initiatives are discriminating against them, while female students say they are facing rampant ‘mansplaining’.

Female students say they are being subjected to “mansplaining” in universities. Picture: iStock

Male and female students at Australia’s leading sandstone universities face gender-based discrimination from their peers, a study has found.

A leading gender analyst in science, Monash University researcher Camilla Fisher, has called for interventions in classrooms to make women feel more welcome.

While women say they face “mansplaining” and “snickering” from men, males say equity programs that promote women discriminate against them, the research shows.

Non-binary and sexually diverse students in science also suffer public humiliation and isolation, the study of 386 undergrads from eight Australian universities found.

Around 200 of the students surveyed came from Monash University and the rest from primarily G8 institutions.

“While female discriminatory experiences are focused around issues with group work, male students reported initiatives to recruit more women into STEM as discriminatory against men,” Ms Fisher said.

The findings come as female students in STEM are under-represented and at more risk of attrition. While females make up 57 per cent of the cohort in courses such as biology, more male-dominated courses include physics, in which only one in four students are women.

Some male uni students say equity programs that promote women discriminate against them. Picture: iStock

The study found female students felt disregarded at times in all-male groups.

One said: “I feel like my male colleagues constantly underestimate me, and that I have to be the best in every class to be taken seriously, whereas male students can be mediocre and are still ­celebrated.”

Ms Fisher said: “This is of concern as female university students who experience bias can face decreased belonging and engagement in STEM fields.”

A minority of male ­students reported what the study called “perceived ­discrimination”.

One noted that his university now has: “Women-only scholarships, events such as networking nights for women only, societies that are exclusively for women – and nothing special for men.”

Another male said people “don’t want white males, they prefer diversity over merit”.

Another said women “should get back to the ­kitchen”.

Non-binary and transgender students also reported discrimination, homophobia and transphobia.

“These experiences of discrimination reported by female students highlights the need for interventions in the classrooms and an awareness of the issue of inequitable group work for educators,” Ms Fisher said.