Half of female students have experienced sexual misconduct at university

Many female students at universities are victims of sexually transgressive behavior. About 52 percent of them said that they have experienced this in the past twelve months. It involves physical violence, dirty comments, and online harassment, among other things.

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) investigated this for Mariëtte Hamer, the government commissioner against sexually transgressive behavior and sexual violence. The results were presented on Thursday at a special meeting at Leiden University. King Willem-Alexander also attended.

According to the research, one in five male students falls victim to sexual misconduct.

According to King Willem-Alexander, sexually transgressive behavior was not visible during his student days in Leiden. Willem-Alexander said that “it did not happen in my time. Or it did happen, of course, but you did not see it, it wasn’t talked about.” The King studied in Leiden between 1987 and 1993.

Willem-Alexander spoke with student organizations and representatives of Dutch student life about their efforts in tackling sexually transgressive behavior. University representatives explained which networks currently exist for reporting inappropriate behavior.