BACKGROUND:

Education is a continuous, critical, holistic process that not only intends to transmit knowledge, abilities, and skills, but also permeates attitudes, values and dispositions, becoming a decisive element to fight inequality in all its nuances.

AIM:

To characterize the type of power that is established in relation to gender, between teachers and students, from the perspective of students and medical teachers from two Chilean universities.

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

Qualitative study, according to Grounded Theory. Nine medical teachers were interviewed, and a focus group was conducted with ten medical students. Open coding was performed for the analysis.

RESULTS:

The presence of five types of power and the gender of the receivers of such expressions was described. Power was expressed also as fair or unfair treatment, pressure, and sexual harassment.

CONCLUSIONS:

Power exercised by teachers over their students is differentiated according to the gender of students. The ways in which that power is exercised do not go unnoticed when they become arbitrary obstacles or benefits for the students and their learning process. It also affects the way in which they subsequently relate with their environment.