Safeguarding and Agency: Methodological Tensions in Conducting Research with Survivors of Sexual Violence in Universities
Autor/in:
Shannon, Erin R.
Quelle: Social Sciences, 11 (2022) 8, 350 S
Inhalt: This paper examines the tension between safeguarding measures and participant agency in conducting feminist interviews with survivors of sexual violence in universities. There is a core contradiction inherent in feminist research of gender-related violence, including sexual violence, because participants have been traumatized: Research with survivors of violence must enact appropriate safeguarding measures to ensure their emotional wellbeing, yet in designing these safeguarding measures, researchers must also ensure that survivor participants can exert agency within the research process. These phenomena are often at odds as safeguarding—the work of protecting participants through limiting their exposure to upsetting stimuli—appears to circumscribe participant agency, or a participant’s ability to make informed choices for themselves that respond to and change the structures in which they are situated. Using part of my doctoral thesis research’s methodology, I detail the safeguarding measures I implemented for participants as well as highlight how and where I attempted to build in agential engagement for survivor participants, and whether, or how often, survivors took up these options. The article concludes by suggesting ways gender-related violence research more broadly can reflect on and continue to interrogate how researchers balance safeguarding requirements while enabling survivors to assert their agency in the research process.
Schlagwörter:ethical issues in surveys; feminist approach; sexual abuse; survivor experience; university
Inhalt: This book takes religion as an entry point for a deeper exploration into why practices of gender-based violence continue and what possible actions might help to contribute to their eradication.
International donors are committed to reducing and ending gender-related harm, particularly violence against women, but clear answers as to why harmful practices persist are often slow to emerge. Theological research struggles to find strong links, yet religion is often referred to by local people as the reason for practices such as female cutting, male circumcision, early and forced marriage, nutritional taboos and birth practices, mandatory (un)veiling, harmful spiritual practices, polygamy, gender unequal marital and inheritance rights and so-called honour crimes. This book presents empirical cases of religious, non-religious and secular actors, including local and international governmental and non-governmental agencies in the fields of development, health and equality policies. Tracing their different understandings of how religion is entangled with gender-based violence both contextually as well as historically, the book sheds light on helpful and unhelpful as well as erroneous and harmful understandings of such practices in local and global perspectives.
Centralising the perspectives of women themselves, this book will be an important read for development practitioners and policy makers, as well as for researchers across religious studies, gender studies, and global development.
Schlagwörter:gender-based violence; geschlechtsbezogene Gewalt; Gewalt gegen Frauen; Religion; violence against women
CEWS Kategorie:Europa und Internationales, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung, Sexuelle Belästigung und Gewalt
Dokumenttyp:Sammelwerk
Genusbaserad utsatthet och sexuella trakasserier i svensk högskolesektor : (Survey on gender-based violence and sexual harassment in the Swedish higher education sector)
Autor/in:
Karolinska Institutet; Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan; Malmö universiteit; Nationella sekretariatet för genusforskning
Quelle: Gothenburg, 2022.
Inhalt: The new report quantifies the extent of consequences of gender-based violence, including sexual harassment, across Sweden’s entire higher education sector.
The Karolinska Institutet, the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Malmö University, and the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research at the University of Gothenburg produced the report “Survey on gender-based violence and sexual harassment in the Swedish higher education sector” (May 2022) (in Swedish only).
The origins of the report stem from a research and collaboration programme established by the four institutions in 2018, with the aim of jointly enhancing knowledge about gender-based violence and sexual harassment in the Swedish higher education sector, as well as the possible underlying causes and consequences. In collaboration with Statistics Sweden (SCB), a survey was conducted across the academic sector in 2021.
The survey:
The questions focused on experiences from the previous 12 months.
A total of 38 918 respondents (31.9 % of recipients) completed the survey.
59.6 % of women and 40.4 % of men responded.
Respondents comprised 24.3 % of students, 37.7 % of doctoral students, and 47.5 % of administrative and academic employees.
4 % had been subjected to unwanted sexual attention in the previous 12 months: 3 % of men, 5 % of women.
Unwanted sexual attention is most prevalent among the younger age group.
Definitions:
The report uses the term gender-based violence as an umbrella term for sexual harassment, bullying and more. Sexual harassment is used to describe unwanted sexual attention.
Bullying:
The report also takes bullying into account.
7 % had been subjected to bullying in the past 12 months.
Women, employees and doctoral students are the most subjected to bullying.
Bullying is most prevalent in the older age group.
Schlagwörter:gender based violence; higher education; sexual harassment; survey; Sweden
“The ethos expected from a management professor forces us to act straight”: Heterosexist harassment against gay professors in Brazil
Autor/in:
Freitas Oleto, Alice de; Palhares, José Vitor
Quelle: Gend Work Organ (Gender, Work and Organization), (2022)
Inhalt: This study aims to analyze how gay Brazilian professors experience heterosexist harassment and the implications of this type of violence for the interpersonal relationships of these professors and for the teaching-learning process in the academic environment. To this end, we conducted an exploratory study with a qualitative approach. The data were collected through an online survey using the Google Forms platform based on cases reported by 13 gay Brazilian professors working in a technological or higher education institution at the time of the harassment. Our data suggest that most respondents suffered heterosexist harassment in the workplace with violence being more explicit when the professor is more effeminate. Furthermore, we found that the naturalization of games considered harmless and homophobic jokes in the workplace can compromise the fight against heterosexist harassment in organizations. As a result, respondents report behavioral and workplace changes to fit into social norms and to be socially accepted, physical and psychological problems, professional and interpersonal relationships, adversely affecting educational experiences.
Quelle: Netzwerk Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung NRW; Essen (Studien Netzwerk Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung NRW), 2022.
Inhalt: Die Handreichung zum Thema der sexualisierten Gewalt stellt Informationen bereit und zeigt Handlungsperspektiven zur Prävention und zum Umgang mit sexualisierter Diskriminierung und Gewalt an Hochschulen auf. Dabei werden auch die spezifischen Bedingungen in der Hochschulmedizin, an den Kunst- und Musikhochschulen, im Bereich des Sports, im digitalen Raum sowie im Bereich des Kinder- und Jugendschutzes berücksichtigt.
Harassment as a consequence and cause of inequality in academia: A narrative review
Autor/in:
Täuber, Susanne; Loyens, Kim; Oertelt-Prigione, Sabine; Kubbe, Ina
Quelle: eClinicalMedicine, 49 (2022) , 101486 S
Inhalt: A growing body of literature suggests that over the past 30 years, policies aimed at tackling harassment in academia have had little discernable effect. How can this impasse be overcome to make the higher education sector a safe space for everyone? We combine the areas of harassment and inequality, intersectionality, policy-practice gaps, gender sensitive medicine, as well as corruption and whistleblower processes to identify lacunae and offer recommendations for how to apply our recommendations in practice. We have been searching the most influential, relevant, and recent literature on harassment and inequality in our respective fields of expertise. By studying conceptual overlaps between the different fields, we were able to create insights that go beyond the insights of the most recent reviews. Our synthesis results in three concrete recommendations. First, harassment and inequality are mutually reinforcing. Failure to adequately tackle harassment contributes to perpetuating and reproducing inequality. Further, the intersectional nature of inequality has to be acknowledged and acted upon. Second, enforcing anti-harassment policies should be a top priority for universities, funders, and policymakers. Third, sexual harassment should be treated as institutional-level integrity failure. The higher education sector should now focus on enforcing existing anti-harassment policies by holding universities accountable for their effective implementation - or risk being complicit in maintaining and reproducing inequality.
Inhalt: Pädagogik, Beratung, Wissenschaft – Themen wie Geschlecht, Sex und sexuelle Bildung werden in den verschiedene Professionen in ganz unterschiedlicher Weise behandelt. Dabei findet in den einzelnen Teilbereichen eine zunehmende Abgrenzung und Ausdifferenzierung statt. Der vorliegende Band sucht dagegen nach dem Austausch zwischen den Disziplinen in Praxis und Theorie. Er zeigt die Perspektiven unterschiedlicher professioneller Akteur*innen auf und regt zur Entwicklung interdisziplinärer Zugänge an, die neue Perspektiven auf den jeweiligen Arbeitsalltag ermöglichen.
CEWS Kategorie:Arbeitswelt und Arbeitsmarkt, Bildung und Erziehung, Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung, Geschlechterverhältnis, Sexuelle Belästigung und Gewalt
Dokumenttyp:Sammelwerk
Every 90 Seconds. Our Common Cause Ending Violence Against Women
Autor/in:
DePrince, Anne P.
Quelle: Oxford University Press, 2022.
Inhalt: Awareness of violence against women has never been greater, yet rates of such violence persist at jaw-dropping levels. In Every 90 Seconds, Dr. Anne P. DePrince argues that to end violence against women, we must fundamentally redefine how we engage with the problem—starting by abandoning the idea that awareness is enough to cause change or that such acts are someone else’s problem. Instead, she argues that we must come to see that we share a common interest in ending violence against women, which diminishes individuals and communities. DePrince traces the links between violence against women and the most important public health and economic issues of our time, including healthcare, education, and legal system reform as well as gun control and immigration. Drawing on research from her own work as well as across disciplines, DePrince explains how violence against women directly and daily affects each of us. In a call to action, the author offers new ways to work together to restore and ensure dignity, fairness, opportunity, and safety for women, girls, and our communities. The book is organized around the connections between violence against women and challenges facing the United States in terms of healthcare (Chapter 1), gun violence (Chapter 2), education access and success (Chapter 3), immigration policy (Chapter 4), economic justice (Chapter 5), and legal system reform (Chapter 6).
Schlagwörter:economic inequality; economics of gender; gender-based violence; Gewalt gegen Frauen; public health; sexual abuse; sexual assault; sexual harassment; sexual violence; sexualisierte Gewalt; sexuelle Belästigung; violence against women
CEWS Kategorie:Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung, Geschlechterverhältnis, Sexuelle Belästigung und Gewalt
Dokumenttyp:Monographie
Stopping Gender-based Violence in Higher Education : Policy, practice, and partnerships
Autor/in:
Humphreys, Clarissa J.; Towl, Graham J.
Quelle: London: Routledge, 2022.
Inhalt: Stopping Gender-based Violence in Higher Education provides a unique insight into how gender-based violence at universities is impacting students and staff and outlines the path toward tangible changes that can prevent it. Bringing together perspectives from academics, activists, practitioners, and university administrators, the book presents a diverse range of voices to constructively critique the field.
Structured in three parts, the book begins by addressing the context, theory, and law that stipulates how universities can effectively respond to reports of gender-based violence. It goes on to discuss the most pragmatic ways to address the issue while contributing to prevention and supporting victim-survivors. Finally, the book advocates for the development of beneficial working partnerships with key external services available to university communities and also working with students as partners in an ethical and safe way. Throughout the book, contributors are invited to demonstrate a comprehensive institution-wide and trauma-informed approach to centre the needs of the victim-survivor and prioritize resources to undertake this vital work. Each chapter ends with a brief summary of key points or recommendations and suggested further reading on the chapter topic. Although the authors draw on research and policy from the UK Higher Education sector, the insights will be a useful resource for those in universities around the world.
This book is an essential reference point and resource for professionals, academics, and students in Higher Education, as well as indispensable reading for activists, policymakers, police, rape crisis groups, and other organisations supporting these universities who want to make meaningful change in reducing, responding to, and preventing gender-based violence in Higher Education.
Schlagwörter:harm; Intervention; partnership; sexual harassment; student; university
Student violence towards teaching assistants in UK schools: a case of gender-based violence
Autor/in:
Holt, Amanda; Birchall, Jenny
Quelle: Gender and Education, (2022) , S 1–16
Inhalt: In recent years significant research attention has focused on the problem of student violence in schools and, to a lesser extent, on its relationship to gender-based violence. However, student violence towards teaching assistants has not been studied, despite evidence suggesting that teaching assistants are at significantly more risk from student violence than other staff members. In this article, we draw on data from 16 in-depth interviews with teaching assistants who have experienced student violence. We conclude that violence towards teaching assistants is ignored, in both research and in schools, precisely because of the feminized and under-valued nature of the role, and argue that the continual victimization of teaching assistants diminishes their status further. We highlight its parallels with gender-based violence and argue that applying such a framework is key to recognizing the personal and social harms that this violence causes and the organizational responses that leaves teaching assistants particularly vulnerable.