Intersections of Gender and Religion in School related Gender-based violence in Italy

The paper focuses on gender equality and gender-based violence in schools and in society in Italy. In particular, it focuses on the intersections of gender with religion in perceptions of gender stereotypes. It reports a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with a sample of 30 teachers and three focus group interviews with year 11 to year 14 students in three schools in Italy as part of a European project entitled: “Developing Gender Equality Charter Marks in order to overcome gender stereotyping in education across Europe which included research in schools in England and Hungary as well as Italy. The paper discusses two fundamental issues: gender stereotypes and gender discrimination at school and Muslim girl discrimination in the present era, when people are especially fearful through terrorism and with a very high risk of creating negative stereotypes of Muslim people. As literature and these data research show, Muslim girls and women are particularly vulnerable.