Portugal is the country with the most reports of sexual harassment at universities

A study coordinated by the University of Évora that involves 7 European universities analyzes sexual harassment and bullying. Portugal is on the podium in both situations.

From seven universities in seven European countries — Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Sweden — Portugal is the country where the most students report experiencing sexual harassment (3.9%)advances .

According to the study by the University of Évora referring to the academic year 2023/2024, with regard to moral harassment/bullying, the Portuguese occupy second placecom 14,3%surpassed only by Romania (15%).

In Portugal, when it comes to sexual harassment, non-teaching university employees were the most recommended group, by 4.7% of respondents, and the other students were mentioned by 3.8%. The teaching staff (teachers) was nominated by 1% of respondents.

This figure of 3.9% is very high when compared to other European countries, such as Sweden, Spain and Italy, which do not reach 1%, or Ireland, Romania and France, which reach 1%. In Portugal, harassment is, therefore, approximately 4 times more felt than in other European countries.

In Portugal, cases of reports of moral harassment (14.3%) are double that of Italy and Ireland (7%), and almost triple that of France and Swedenwith 5% of students reporting this type of scenario. In Spain, 9% of students were morally harassed, and in Romania, the country with the most cases, the figure rises to 15%.

Of Romanian students, 13% accused moral harassment of teachersthe largest number, followed by Irish (11%) and Portuguese (8%). Among Spaniards, 7% also felt this way from teachers, 6% of Italians and 4% of French.

Only 2% of Swedes identify teachers as aggressors. In the case of Romanian students, 4%, the highest percentage among all universities, accuse non-teaching staff of being aggressors.

But university students also felt off-site sexual harassment and bullying of the University, and that’s where the numbers get worse: in Portugal, 50.4% of students have already been victims of situations of this type outside the campus.

They are second on the list, headed by France, with 51%, and together with Ireland, with the same percentage as the Portuguese. Romania (48%), Spain (44.8%) and Italy (41.6%) were also seriously affected by this situation. In the case of Sweden, the number drops to 28.9%.

This harassment outside the University is not, in most cases, carried out by strangers: Most scenarios happen within the family or within a romantic relationship.

“Among Irish students, 19% blame their family for harassment; between Portuguese and Romanians it is 16%. Next come the French with 14%, Italians and Spanish with 11% and Swedes with 2%. When it comes to romantic partners, 10% of Irish students accuse them of harassment, followed by Portuguese students, with 9%”, says DN.

In Portugal, only 6% point to “other” and not these protagonists of sexual harassment.

The study coordinator, Lara Guedes Pinhoprofessor at the Department of Nursing at the University of Évora and researcher at CHRC (Comprehensive Health Research Center), alerted DN to the fact that only one university for each countrywhich can bias the results.

Still, he guarantees, “although they cannot be generalized to the countries in question, since responses were only collected at one university in each country, these results are alarmingas we have high percentages of young people who have already suffered from harassment, whether moral or sexual”.