Gender-based violence in academic and research workplaces: Pervasiveness in higher education and research performing organisations
2025 (English)In: Socialmedicinsk Tidskrift, ISSN 0037-833X, E-ISSN 2000-4192, Vol. 102, no 1, p. 112-123Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Gender-based violence (GBV) at work or study place often falls outside of the mainstream violence research interests. However, it is now well established that violence is far from rare in work and workplaces, in organisations, and for certain occupations. This is all the more so when violence is understood in a broad sense to include harassment, bullying, psychological violence, and further violations, as in feminist conceptualisations of GBV. In this paper, we address GBV in a particular arena which, it would be hoped, would be designed to enhance well-being, safety, knowledge and education: namely, higher education (HE) and research performing organisations (RPOs). Importantly, from our perspective, HE and RPOs are not only educational and research sites, but also need to be understood as work, workplace, employment, occupational, organisational, professional and managerial sites. We draw on recent research within the EU funded UniSAFE, a large multi-country research and innovation project on GBV in HE and RPOs. UniSAFE has aimed to provide reliable, comparable data on different forms of gender-based violence in HE and RPOs in order to understand the extent of the problem among staff and students, assess institutional responses, and develop tools to address that problem. The materials include a survey of prevalence and consequences of GBV in HEI and RPOs (n=42 000), in-depth case studies, a strategic mapping of GBV policy and measures in 46 HEI and RPOs , and a mapping of national policy on GBV in HE.
Abstract [sv]
Artikeln diskuterar könsbaserat våld vid lärosäten och forskningsorganisationer (RPO) i betydelsen arbetsplatser, sysselsättning, yrkes-, organisations-, och ledningsplatser. Datan baseras på det EU-finansierade UniSAFE och inkluderar en onlineenkät om förekomst och konsekvenser av könsbaserat våld (n=42 000), en kartläggning av nationell policy om könsbaserat våld inom högre utbildning och forskningsorganisationer, samt institutionella policyer och åtgärder för att motverka könsbaserat våld i 46 forskningsorganisationer i femton länder. Resultaten visar att prevalensen är mycket hög, ojämlik mellan olika grupper, men ändå relativt enhetlig mellan länder och institutioner, vilket tyder på att prevalensen av könsbaserat våld i stort sett inte är relaterad till de forskningsorganisationer där respondenterna arbetar eller studerar, och/eller till det land där de bor. Könsbaserat våld inom lärosäten och forskningsorganisationer verkar därmed ha ett eget system och en egen logik.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Stiftelsen Socialmedicinsk tidskrift , 2025. Vol. 102, no 1, p. 112-123
Keywords [en]
violence, harassment, universities, research, higher education
Keywords [sv]
akademin, genusbaserat våld, prevalens, universitet, våld
National Category
Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine Gender Studies
Research subject
Sociology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-121067DOI: 10.62607/smt.v102i1.24856OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-121067DiVA, id: diva2:1958420
Projects
EU Horizon UniSAFE
Funder
European Commission
Note
Published in English and Swedish:
S. Strid and J. Hearn ‘Könsrelaterat våld på akademiska arbetsplatser och forskningsarbetsplatser: utbredning och roll inom högre utbildning och forskningsorganisationer’, Socialmedicinsk tidskrift, Vol. 1/2025, pp. 80-93. https://publicera.kb.se/smt/article/view/24856/40624
S. Strid and J. Hearn ‘Gender-based violence in academic and research workplaces: Pervasiveness in higher education and research performing organisations’, Journal of Social Medicine, Vol. 1/2025, pp. 112-123. https://publicera.kb.se/smt/article/view/24856/41119
2025-05-152025-05-152025-05-15Bibliographically approved