UvA study: young people support equality in principle, but are critical of gender-neutral toilets and Purple Friday

A majority of Dutch secondary school students (59 percent) believe that everyone is equal, regardless of sexual orientation. But when the issue becomes concrete — a gender-neutral toilet, a mandatory Purple Friday — that broad support turns into scepticism. This is according to a major study conducted by the University of Amsterdam on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science among more than 31,000 secondary school students aged 12 to 18.

A gap between principle and practice

The UvA research team — from the departments of Child Development and Education, Communication Science and Psychology — analysed two large datasets and identified a consistent pattern. At the level of abstract principles, young people express progressive views: 59 percent believe that everyone is equal regardless of sexual orientation, and 65 percent believe that young people should be free to decide who they fall in love with. When the question concerns visible, concrete expressions of gender at school, the picture changes. 61 percent disagree with the statement that at least half of the toilets at school should be gender-neutral, 54 percent agree that sex is fixed at birth, and 41 percent oppose celebrating Purple Friday at all schools. Among those campaigning against Purple Friday is the Catholic campaign Gezin in Gevaar, which is collecting signatures for a petition. The story of how Purple Friday grew from an initiative into a programme at thousands of schools can be found on genderlobby.nl.

The researchers themselves describe this as a discrepancy between theory and practice: young people endorse equality as an abstract ideal, but are considerably more hesitant when that equality is translated into concrete measures or symbols at their own school.

Who is more critical, and why

Views differ along a few clear lines. Boys are, on average, more conservative than girls, and religion plays a demonstrable role: in the study, Muslim young people were found to hold the most conservative views on visible gender expression. General conservatism as a personality trait is also strongly associated with the degree of scepticism towards school policies concerning gender. This suggests that opposition to gender-neutral facilities cannot simply be attributed to ignorance or intolerance in a broad sense — it reflects more specific reservations about the practical implementation of gender policy, while the underlying principle of equality is nevertheless endorsed.

This is consistent with other research showing that a small proportion of students — approximately 0.7 percent — identify differently from the sex recorded at birth. The majority of the student population therefore assesses school policy not from the perspective of a personal gender issue, but from a general view of what is desirable for the school as a whole.

What this means for the debate on gender at school

The findings are relevant to schools and policymakers because they show that support for gender-related school policies cannot be taken for granted, even among a generation often portrayed as inherently progressive. Policies based on broad support for measures such as gender-neutral toilets or a mandatory Purple Friday risk overlooking a significant minority — and sometimes even a majority — of students who do not support such concrete measures, while still endorsing the underlying principle of equality. The study highlights that schools would do well to distinguish between making equality open to discussion as a value and imposing specific symbolic or practical measures — two things that, according to this research, do not automatically coincide in young people’s perception. More about teaching materials, social transition and the role of parents can be found under gender at school; more figures are available at young people who identify as trans or gender-diverse.