Resistances to Gender Mainstreaming in Higher Education: Insights from Schools of Education

Addressing gender inequalities in education has gained prominence as a global policy imperative, including within higher education (Hinton-Smith et al., 2022; Rosa & Clavero, 2021). Despite widespread mandates for gender mainstreaming, resistance to integrating gender equality perspectives into teaching persists, posing a challenge to transformative change in university settings. This study aims to examine the multifaceted manifestations of resistance to gender mainstreaming in university teaching in Catalonia, particularly in the region’s public Schools of Education. Drawing on feminist institutionalism as a theoretical lens (Lombardo & Mergaert, 2013; Chappell & Waylen, 2013), resistance is conceptualized as encompassing individual-institutional and active-passive dimensions. Methodologically, the research is based on 24 semi-structured interviews with faculty across five Schools, analyzed through an iterative process informed by critical realism and feminist approaches (Danermark et al., 2019; Hesse-Biber, 2012). Results indicate that most resistance manifests passively, through subtle institutional inertia, academic freedom, limited enforcement mechanisms, and the marginalization of gender perspectives within academic disciplines. Active resistance—such as denial of gender inequalities, trivialization, ridicule, and rejection of feminist frameworks as ‘ideological’—emerges primarily when institutional norms are directly contested. Gender equality perspectives often remain peripheral in curricula, framed as optional add-ons, undermining collective ownership and sustained inclusion. Underlying factors enabling resistance include bureaucratic rigidity in curriculum regulations, low institutional prioritization, lack of teaching coordination, excessive faculty workloads, and a research-oriented evaluation culture that marginalizes teaching roles (AQU, 2024; Gómez & Jódar, 2013). Conclusively, this study highlights the complexity of resistance to gender equality policies in higher education, emphasizing the interplay between visible and hidden forces that constrain transformative enactment. Understanding these dynamics is essential for developing strategies to address both active and passive resistances, thereby facilitating more effective institutional change toward a more gender-inclusive education.