SARA POURKHAZRI

Kermanshah_For young women in Iran, university represents a path toward independence and identity, an environment supposed to provide safety for growth, knowledge, and awareness. However, testimonies from many female students indicate that patriarchal structures and harassment patterns have become recurring phenomena in some universities in recent years.

According to testimonies, many female students have faced direct and indirect harassment from professors and administrators, alongside degrading and discriminatory behavior toward women, veiled threats, and conditional promises tied to submission_ making university for many a battleground against patriarchal structures.

Sabnam H. a student at Payam Noor University in Kermanshah, recounts how she became a victim of harassment and humiliation in a place meant for learning and growth. "When I refused a marriage proposal from a university professor, he began spreading rumors about me.He fabricated rumors claiming I was involved with all the male faculty members and that I met them daily in the restrooms."

She noted that she filed a complaint with the university president. " I told him he could review the surveillance cameras to verify that all these claims were false.At first, the university president pretended to support me, but it soon became clear he had another agenda. He constantly tried to lure me to his office,attempted several times to grab my hand, and would say in a demeaning tone: 'You deserve a man like to protect you' . He even suggested we sit alone and talk about our problems."

She adds: "When I objected and told him ' You're all the same,' the next day the president humiliated me in front of all the students, at the university entrance, loudly saying that the clothes I wore to university were meant for night paties and that I had caused corruption within the university.  This public attack was simply because I did not respond to him After weeks of continuous pressure and humiliation, I was forced to leave the university."

 

Harassment Under Authority

In recent years, numerous reports have been published about female students being subjected to sexual harassment by professors and university administrators, indicatinf that sexual harassment by professors and administrators has become a recurring pattern in academic settings.

One recent example occurred at the University of Kurdistan, where 17 female students filed a formal complaint against their professor, Jamal Mohammadi,accusing him of sexual harassment.Initially, a decision was made to dismiss him, but ultimately all charges were rejected by official authorities and he was acquitted.

This decision sparked a wave of anger and protest among students, who organized a protest demanding his trial and accountability. However, judicial authorities remained, according to accounts, supportive of the accused.

This example clearly shows how power structures within universities, instead of supporting victims, often work to protect the status and reputation of the accused, and that perpetrators enjoy a form of unspoken immunity that shields them from genuine accountability and punishment. But what makes male university staff so brazen in imposing their sexual demands on female students?

Forouzan Yari(pseudonym), a student activist, says: "Many men, regardless of their social status or positions, consider it a natuaral and inderent right to use women for their service.In the logic of the patriarchal system, women are not only seen as obligated to serve, but the path to their success is also defined in a way that reaching social and professional positions is, in one way or another, conditional on offering a 'debt' to men."

In administrative environments, women clearly face sexual propositions from male employees while following up on their affairs—propositions understood in practice as a condition for completing work or processing files. "This logic is reproduced within the university environment as well; some professors and university administrators believe that female students do not deserve to pass exams or complete their studies unless they provide services to them."

On the other hand, she explains that "the existence of laws that protect men and the weakness of legal structures in confronting violence and sexual harassment give these individuals greater audacity. Under these laws, men in academic and administrative environments exert more pressure on women, because they know that the likelihood of serious prosecution or punishment is low."

This vicious cycle places women in a position where they are forced to pay heavy psychological, social, and even physical costs to obtain their basic rights. In most cases, they remain silent about these harassments out of fear for their reputation, as Forouzan Yari confirms.

 

Why Does Sexual Harassment in Universities Remain Unadressed?

Despite the absence of official and accurate statistics on the scale of sexual harassment in universities, student narratives paint a picture of continued harassment and the difficulty of speaking about it or officially reporting it.

Parwin D.,  a former student at Azad University in Kermanshah, says that the university president initially directed warnings at her about her clothing under the pretext of "ethics lessons," but gradually began exhibiting sexual and degrading behaviors, including touching her body and commenting on her figure. Because she feared her family and could not object, she ended up withdrawing from the university.

This account, along with similar cases, points to the transformation of the university into an unsafe space for female students_ a space where unequal power relations and structural support for men are reinforced, where harassment and pressure on women push them into silence or force them to leave the university.