First steps to overcoming gender violence

The highly feudal structures that characterize the Spanish higher education have been intimidating the university community not to break the silence on gender violence occurring inside its institutions. However, once the silence was broken and the first research studies were developed on this issue, advances have been made to change the university structures and make them a safer place. In that sense, the pioneer research has been crucial to pave the way for the struggle against gender violence in Spanish universities. Given so, this research is listed on the Social Impact Open Repository and stands out for its political and social impact beyond the scientific impact (VAW_U, 2015).

Especially, the communicative methodology that oriented the research has contributed to amplifying the impact of discussing for the first time this major social problem that had been silenced for so long. One of the outcomes of the pioneer research in this sense is the need for implementing measures and policies in universities that the participants of the study claimed for. Comparing the policies and measures that the highest ranked universities in the world have, in Spain, we need to claim for changes that make it possible to introduce mechanisms to respond to gender violence, resolve potential cases and prevent others. Some of the elements that participants in the pioneer study outlined are related to very basic human aspects such as confidentiality and to creating confidential spaces in which victims can feel safe to explain their situations and get to know the possibilities of handling the situation (Valls, 2005-2008). The participants highlight that these measures or offices that are going to be implemented should be composed of people representing the whole university community. Hence, victims,

students, staff from the administration or services, as well as faculty should be involved in the implementation and maintenance of these measures.

The research team concludes the project with a guide on prevention and addressing violence against women at the universities which includes the following measures: 1) an institutional policy on sexual, academic and labour harassment that defines the situations of violence against women and the measures and the protocol to be followed in these situations, 2) prevention, training and awareness raising activities, 3) offices for sexual harassment prevention and reporting, 4) advisers, 5) flyers and informative documents, 6) web pages, 7) participation of all the university community in the development of measures of prevention and resolution of violence against women (Valls, 2005-2008).

Vidu and her colleagues (Vidu et al., 2014) have highlighted the social and political impact of the pioneer research and the changes that, subsequently, have taken place so far. In this regard, the research results have been taken into account by the some members of the Spanish Parliament who discussed the results in a meeting with researchers from CREA SAPPHO. The parliamentarians then committed to suggest changes that would mandate universities to create mechanisms for the prevention and resolution of gender violence. The commitment became effective in the Law for the Effective Equality Between Women and Men (2007) that mandates the creation of Equality Units at every public university in Spain and the elaboration of a protocol to guide the procedures for cases of sexual harassment as well as its prevention.

This legislation is the first of its kind to directly tackle gender violence in Spanish higher education. The implementation of Equality Units and the corresponding protocols represent the first mechanism through which victims can formally report cases and situations of gender violence. Since the conclusion of the research project in 2008 to the present, sixteen universities in Spain have elaborated and implemented a protocol for the prevention, detection and action against sexual harassment (VAW_U, 2015). The first protocol to be applied to a case, was at the Business School of the University of Barcelona in November 2011, when the first formal report of sexual harassment perpetrated by a professor was filed. The protocol is based on the research results of the pioneer research and draws from the measures proposed (Vidu et al., 2014).

In this line, also other kinds of measures have been developed at different universities. The University of Lleida for instance has approved a declaration of zero tolerance toward gender violence and harassment in their institution . At the University of Valencia 1

an awareness program and training for students and professionals have been implemented as part of the first Equality Plan that was approved in December 2009. Conferences on gender violence have since then been organized, such as the conference entitled Successful Actions in the Prevention of Violence against Women in Universities and organized by CREA SAPPHO at the University of Barcelona in November 2010.

The social impact that derives from the pioneer research has myriad facets. In the first place, students participating in the research had the chance to discuss a highly sensitive issue that is of major concern to them. Vidu and her colleagues (2014) highlight, in this regard, that some students began to be more active in the fight against gender violence in Spanish universities. Also, the research as well as the mechanisms that were to be implemented as a consequence encouraged victims to feel empowered and report their experiences of violence, often perpetrated by professors who had enjoyed impunity for their activities for many years.

However, the Spanish context of higher education is far from easily acknowledging the problem of gender violence in its institutions. Thus, the progress made is essential to continue breaking the silence and make universities a safer place in the future. In this line, formal reports that have been filed still represent bravery on the part of the victims and facing resistances and retaliations at the same time as it is a further step in breaking the silence. In order to face these situations, victims have united their forces and have created a solidarity network that aims at providing the moral support to victims of 2

gender violence at Spanish universities as well as to second-order victims. It has been

Declaració Institucional de la Universitat de Lleida de Tolerància Zero Envers la Violència i

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L’assetjament per Raó de Gènere [Institutional Declaration of the University of Lleida on Zero Tolerance toward Violence and Harassment because of Gender]: http://www.udl.es/serveis/oficina/ documents-premsa/declaracioUdLtoleranciazero.pdf (accessed on March 13, 2015).

Solidarity Network of Victims of Gender Violence at Universities: https://www.facebook.com/pages/

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Red-solidaria-de-v%C3%ADctimas-de-violencia-de-género-en-las-universidades/834367176577567 (accessed on: March 14, 2015)

the solidarity among the victims and those who supported them in hard times that made them go forward and not bend to the institutional pressure (Vidu et al., 2014).

The efforts made by CREA SAPPHO to break the silence on gender violence at Spanish universities through the pioneer research as well as all the other venues they have found to pave the way for creating safer universities has been well acknowledged by international scholars working in the field, such as Sarah Rankin, the former director of the Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response at Harvard University. In 2009 she stated the following: “CREA’s efforts to lay this foundation by breaking the silence surrounding gender violence is inspiring. Future generations of students and faculty will undoubtedly have a very different classroom experience because of their work” (Giner, 2011, p.312). The present research study is the result of all these efforts, since it would not have been possible to develop a dissertation on preventing gender violence at Spanish universities if the silence had not been broken before. Also the present research is framed in the previous studies and oriented by the excellent work done by CREA SAPPHO. In the light of what has been achieved up to this point, this dissertation study represents another milestone in the struggle against gender violence at Spanish universities.

1.2.5. Brief conclusions

Research on gender violence at Spanish universities highlights some of the elements that characterize the country specific higher education settings. Among these, the strong feudal structures that are slowly taken down and the inaction of the institution are prominent. Nevertheless, also the lack of identification of violent situations that participants in the study belonging to the university community show is a salient issue. As a departing point for the present study, both elements will guide the research developed, but in different ways. As outlined in this section, pioneer research has been crucial for making the first steps in overcoming gender violence at universities by breaking the silence and making it a public issue and opening up spaces in which conversations on this problem can be held. In this sense, the continuation of research on gender violence in Spanish higher education contributes to tearing down the walls that maintain the feudal structures. However, the present research mainly aims at tackling

the second element, the difficulties to identify gender violence. In order to overcome this barrier guidance is needed that can help to identify potential violent situations and to prevent them. Therefore, different theoretical approaches will mark the research conducted: the approach of preventive socialization combined with the analysis of communicative acts and the approach of health literacy in order to identify and distinguish those interactions that involve violence and those that are free of violence to contribute with prevention strategies that will, lastly, help in the progress to make universities a safer place.

1.3. Gender violence prevention