Trigger warning: discussions of harassment
It’s a sad reality that women still today have to make it through unnecessary hurdles and work twice as hard as men to get the same accomplishments that men do. Women on Twitter shed light on this issue by discussing the prevalent problem of harassment female students face in university, whether at the hands of their peers or their professors for which they have to face harsh consequences.
Twitter user Sohni who is also a medicine student, was the first person to start the conversation when she shared a fellow student’s experience of being harassed by her professor about not wearing a dupatta during her viva, when the focus should have been on whether she was smart enough or not to become a doctor.
a Pakistani med student just told me her anatomy professor asked where her dupatta was during her viva. Not the first time I’ve heard a story like that. Should female medical students be worried about anatomy or dupattas?
— sohni (@sohnianika) January 26, 2022
This isn’t an irregular occurrence, and soon more medicine students began sharing horrifying experiences ranging from being harassed during classes for wearing makeup, or even being threatened by professors that their finals won’t be graded because of their clothes
i was told to sit with legs crossed in a viva in FIRST year can you imagine bro i’m stressed and shaking thats least of my concerns
— maryam (@maryamful) January 26, 2022
I was kicked out of class for not wearing one by the same HOD who has in fact failed many girls in the vivas for not wearing one either. She’ll either give you a horrible time or fail you so the first instructions we got for anatomy were never syllabus related but such things lol
— R (@_rameme) January 27, 2022
I once went to my college in my casual clothes to get my practical notebook signed and an Islamic Islamiyat teacher asked me if I’m a Christian or Hindu because I was not wearing a dupatta. Told me to go home and get one if I wanted to stay in the premises of the college. https://t.co/pTYAzmjEd6
— Javaria (@JavariaWaseem) January 27, 2022
reminds me of when a chs external who was taking my viva in prof started hyperfocusing on my hair and hands,and told me to cover my hair even though i was wearing a dupatta. messed up the easiest viva of my life because i was too focused on hiding each and every strand https://t.co/X9rmbeVUXR
— 🍉 (@hahacashmala) January 27, 2022
Once I was asked by a teacher in front of the whole staff
Ye ap 2 piece suit kyun pehenti hain? Bhen to apki 3 piece pehenti hai? Ap kis per chali gai hain? Ghar me kon aesi dressing karta hai? Kon dupatta nahi leta?
I said “mam me apnay abu per chali gai hun.” https://t.co/tJ6JnwCTe9
— Bakhtawar Javed (@BakhtawarJ_) January 27, 2022
my hod saw me in half sleeves and called me in her office, and said “beta yeh fashion ap ghar karein, idher ap parhne ati hain” https://t.co/xnWjfPcYXE
— m. (@twtisboring) January 26, 2022
It’s shocking that colleges and universities have no policy to counter the harassment and unnecessary bullying women students are forced to endure just to get their degrees. How a woman chooses to dress up is never an invitation to harass or demean her, and the onus should never be placed on young girls that they must hide themselves in order to prevent being harassed by men.
