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You Can Knock on the Doors and Windows of the University, but Nobody Will Care: How Universities Benefit from Network Silence around Gender-Based Violence

Authors :
Vilana Pilinkaite Sotirovic
Anke Lipinsky
Katarzyna Struzińska
Beatriz Ranea-Triviño
Source :
Social Sciences, Vol 13, Iss 4, p 199 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2024.

Abstract

This paper exposes the role of universities in creating silence around gender-based violence in higher education, drawing on narratives from 39 qualitative interviews with victims/survivors and bystanders about reporting incidents and experiences. In this paper, we extend concept of ‘network silence’ around sexual harassment to other forms of gender-based violence. Our research applies three components of the theoretical model of network silence, namely, self-silencing by victims/survivors, silencing, and not hearing by others, and analyses their contextual manifestations through the reporting experiences of victims/survivors and bystanders. This helps to identify the traits of the informal organisational structures and power dynamics, gendered attitudes, actors, and factors which facilitate silencing. The intersectional approach in our analysis of organisational contextual traits contributes to the research on inequality regimes in universities. The findings suggest that universities are making limited efforts to address silence around gender-based violence. We conclude that shared beliefs among the leadership about the reputation and prestige of the university facilitate the endurance of silence in universities. Our findings indicate reasons why universities fail to create spaces that are safe from gender-based violence.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20760760
Volume :
13
Issue :
4
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Social Sciences
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.bea471d6f45496ca54faa017ab2bac0
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13040199