top of page
Este site foi desenvolvido com o criador de sites
.com
. Crie seu site hoje.Começar
library-of-congress-P5agVeQMLcM-unsplash.jpg

TOOLKIT 
IDENTIFYING AND CHALLENGING GENDER BASED HATRED AND EXTREMISM ON TERTIARY EDUCATION CAMPUSES

CHECK IT HE ERASMUS PROJECT
APRIL 2022

Identifying and Challenging Gender Based Hatred and Extremism on Tertiary Education Campuses

Hate and extremism are issues effecting all European societies, indeed globally. The CHECKIT HE consortium aims to enhance innovation and capacity in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) response to hate and extremism on campus, by building innovation and training, as well as fostering exchange of good practices.

Ativo 2.png

Why this toolkit?

Ativo 3.png

Key concepts

Ativo 5.png

Most common forms of gender based hate crimes being reported in academe campuses

Ativo 4.png

Most important developments and challenges

Ativo 1.png

Training Toolkit

Toolkit 1

WHY THIS TOOLKIT

The toolkit on “Identifying and Challenging Gender Based Hatred and Extremism on Tertiary Education Campuses” is intended for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to challenge gender based hate and extremism, enabling a wide variety of groups and individuals inside and outside HEIs, students organizations and policy makers, to use it (this might include a wide range of NGOs, criminal justice practitioners, public authorities, schools, colleges, other non-degree level educational institutions and the broad ranging EU youth workforce).

​

There is an urgent need to ensure that gender based hate and extremism are effectively addressed in HEIs, as noted by the EU Higher Level Conference on Radicalisation (2019), and in a variety of contemporary international guidelines (UNESCO; 2019), as well as national policy documents from across Europe.

 

According to a recent EU funded report, “promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in Europe’s universities supports institutional growth and capacity building to serve better the needs of European society,” (Claeys-Kulik, Ekman Jorgensen and Stober, 2019)).

Some students are more likely to be targets of gender based hate and abuse than others, such as women, LGBTQI+, ethnic minorities groups, those who follow a religion/faith, and disabled people. Examples of hate on campus include: hate speech, physical abuse, gendered or sexual violence, bullying, overt violence and ostracisation/exclusion by others.

Higher education institutions should be leading on these issues and some indeed are implementing active strategies and innovating, but there is not enough sharing of this practice and ways in which HEIs can successfully counter gender based hate and extremism.

This toolkit can be used to:

Identify

Assess

Clarify

Allow 

ways to build capacity toward greater effectiveness and strength by identifying concrete steps that would improve HEIs practices

many of the global best practices and ethical standards that should be put in place in regards to multiple dimensions of work on violence against women, LGBTQI+ community and other community groups more vulnerable to gender based hate and abuse

key capacities and safeguards to prioritize

some individual assessment that should prompt self-reflection and

discussion on diverse items

Who should use this toolkit?

This toolkit on “Identifying and Challenging Gender Based Hatred and Extremism on Tertiary Education Campuses” is intended for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to challenge gender based hate and extremism, enabling a wide variety of groups and individuals inside and outside HEIs, mostly:

Ativo 6.png

Higher education institutions, and general body of policy makers

Ativo 7.png

Teaching and non-teaching staff of universities

Ativo 8.png

Students, and students’ unions.

This toolkit has four more points:

Key concepts aims at providing knowledge, information and useful resources in order to

better define and understand the problem of gender based hatred and extremism at HEIs.

Most common forms of gender based hate crimes being reported in academe campuses,

providing an overview of the gender based violence in Check IT He countries.

Most important developments on gender based violence prevention in campuses and the

best practices and challenges identified in Check It He countries.

Training toolkit provides a framework for self-assessment to administration and policy-

makers; as well as tools and ideas that can be replicated during educational and training activities with HEIS target groups (students, administrative staff, teaching staff).

Gender

Individual characteristics that are socially constructed and prescribed. That is, a set of norms, behaviors, expressions and roles associated with being girl, woman, boy, men, and gender diverse.

 

Gender deeply influences how people perceive themselves and interact with each other.

Sex

Different biological and physiological characteristics of females, males and intersex individuals.

Gender identity

Personal conception of oneself in relation to gender. It can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it.

Harassement

Unwanted behavior, either physical or verbal, that makes the other person feel demeaned, distressed, offended, embarrassed, intimidated or humiliated.

 

Examples of harassment range from unwanted contacts, online bullying and threats to verbal and event physical injuries.

Sexual harassement

Particular type of harassment that involves explicit or implicit sexual connotations, including inappropriate and/or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. It ranges from verbal transgressions to sexual assault or abuse.

Gender violence

Harmful acts that might, or not, constitute a crime (see gender based hate crimes) directed at an individual or group based upon their gender identity;

 

Gender violence might include sexual, physical, psychological and economic harm inflicted in either public or private spheres. It also includes threats of violence, coercion and/or manipulation;

 

Considering an intersectional approach, gender violence must be addressed in its complex, hybrid and diverse articulations with other forms of violence and discrimination, such racism;

 

Gender based violence in higher education is still very hidden, and most people who are victims of gender based crime and abuse still do not report them.

Gender based hate crimes

Crimes that are constituted as offences under criminal law, and that disproportionately affect women and individuals perceived as not complying with prevailing gender norms aimed at intimidating and suppressing expressions of gendered identity.

 

Hate crimes cause normally fear, having impact on indivual self-esteem; 

Victims may become isolated, and feeling insecure about themselves.

Gender based extremism

The authors agree that the definition of extremism is complex. According to Sotlar et al. (2004, p. 1), extremism is essentially a political term that determines activities that are not morally, ideologically or politically in accordance with the written (legal and constitutional) and unwritten norms of the state.

 

Applied to gender based violence, extremism means any action (explicit or implicit) that keeps people in a situation of subjugation in reason of gender stereotypes;

 

Transgender women or man may experience several forms of transmisogyny.

Learn more about concepts and terms

Claeys-Kulik, A.-L., Jørgensen, T. E., & Stöber, H. (2019). Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in European Higher Education Institutions Results from the INVITED project. www.eua.eu

​

Emmelkamp, J., Asscher, J. J., Wissink, I. B., & Stams, G. J. J. M. (2020). Risk factors for (violent) radicalization in juveniles: A multilevel meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 55, 101489. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/J.AVB.2020.101489

​

European Comission (2020). The European Gender Equality Strategy 2. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://nove.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/EU- Gender-Equality-Strategy-1.pdf

​

European Comission (2021). Gender equality in the EU. https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/aid_develo pment_cooperation_fundamental_rights/annual_repor t_ge_2021_en.pdf

​

Free speech, extremism and a university’s duty | The Times. (May, 16, 2013.). Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/free-speech- extremism-and-a-universitys-duty-v8ncrmjhtpn

​

Ispahani, F. (2016). Women and Islamist Extremism: Gender Rights Under the Shadow of Jihad. The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 14(2), 101–104. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2016.1184445

Nomoto, R. (2017). Gender equality: glossary of terms and concepts gender equality glossary of terms and concepts. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/rosa/media/1761/file/Gender %20glossary%20of%20terms%20and%20concepts%20. pdf

​

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (2019). Understanding the role of gender in preventing and countering violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism; good practices for law enforcement Retrieved from https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/0/b/4205 63_1.pdf

​

UNHCR- Gender based Violence. (n.d.). https://www.unhcr.org/gender based-violence.html

​

United Nations (1993). Declaration of the Elimination of Violence against Women, U.N. General Assembly Resolution 48/104.

​

Schmid, A. P. (2014). Violent and non-violent extremism: Two sides of the same coin. ICCT Research Paper. The Hague: International Center for Counterterrorism (ICCT).

 

Sotlar, A., Mesko, G., Pagon, M., & Dobovsek, B. (2004). Some Problems with a Definition and Perception of Extremism within a Society moz-extension: Retrieved from https://www b8b4d5b2-8593-4f9b-b926- be9d5f99135b/enhanced- reader.html?openApp&pdf=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ojp. gov%2Fpdffiles1%2Fnij%2FMesko%2F208033.pdf

MOST COMMON FORMS OF GENDER BASED HATE CRIMES BEING REPORTED IN ACADEMIC CAMPUSES

Sexual harassment of female teachers and female students;

​

Abuse, particularly in relation to academic work and supervision /

teaching relationships;

 

Sexism and abuse in academic festivities throughout extremely sexist lyrics and dances;

 

Use of racist jargons to refer to women form different nationalities with a sexist association;

 

Failure by some higher university administrations to protect transgender staff and students (including transgender women who were experiencing transmisogyny);

 

Prejudice and/or ideologies about gender that invariably harm LGBTQ+ individuals;

 

Students from other nationalities and ethnic groups other than the majoritarian are subject to hate speech and assault due to ethnic heritage by their peers, academic and non-academic staffs.

Ativo 26.png

Countries overview on gender issues

Gender scenarios at HEIs vary across different European countries, and there is standardized data collection on gender. EIGE (2022).
To provide an overview of this diversity, we briefly describe national cases using the information provided by the CHECKIT HE consortium partners (for a detailed overview of national cases, consult the interim report, 2022).

Cyprus

Finland

Portugal

Serbia

UK

Turkey

Cyprus

The percentage of female academic staff in tertiary education, is approximately 43% in 2018 (The World Bank, 2021a).


More than 60.0 % of the total number of students studying for a master’s degree in Cyprus, are women (Eurostat, 2021).

​

Women are behind men in higher education employment. Men constitute the majority of teaching and administrative staff at Higher Education Institutions.

 

There is also gender segregation in study choices, with women selecting humanities, education and arts, and males choosing science, engineering and computing (Angeli, 2019).

​

Higher Education Institutions are encouraged by the Cyprus Agency of Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Higher Education to develop policies for promoting gender equality and provide equal opportunities for both women and men. The Agency itself maintains an equitable balance between men and women in its External Evaluation Committees.

​

The most recent document concerning gender mainstreaming in education and research is the Strategic Planning for the Equality of Men and Women 2014-2017 in Education followed by the National Action Plan (NAP) on Gender Equality 2018-2021.The NAP was produced by Pedagogical Institute and contains several targets. Under Target III, action 13 Education Institutions (including Universities and Research institutions) are invited to develop Gender Equality Plans.

 

 

The aims of the Education Institutions on the specific matter are set as the following:


• Encouragement of women to apply for academic posts


• Research on gender equality issues

​

• Participation of women on decision-making

 

• Leaves, pay, education and development


• Children care for students who are parents.

​

​

The Cyprus Higher and Tertiary Education Administration is responsible for the implementation of the above measures (EIGE, 2020).

Finland

Higher education institutes in Finland, as well as all other educational institutes, are required to make equality and non-discrimination plans by law. Act on Equality between Women and Men (1986/906) and Non- discrimination Act (1325/2014) give a national framework and define the minimum level to both personnel policy and functional promoting of equality regarding students and staff. Educational institutes are considered to have a double role as an employer (staff) and organizer of education (students, staff, public).

​

This means that requirements regarding equality and non-discrimination are actual in many levels. Equality plans are made in co-operation between staff and students and they must contain a report of actual state equality, actions to promote equality and evaluation of former actions their results (Ministry of Education and Culture 2020).

 

Universities in Finland are divided to two sectors: universities that are

focused on high level education and research and universities of applied sciences that are focused on high level education and working life know-how. Both university sectors have study programs that are highly unbalanced in gender. In 2019 health and wellbeing, humanities, education and social sciences all had at least 70 % of graduates’ female. In other hand engineering, manufacturing and construction as well as ICT had over 70 % graduated male students. (Tilastokeskus 2021.)

 

 

Work should be done to make educational selections more even between genders. Educational selections are one factor in keeping women in lower salary and lower positions in work life in Finland (THL 2021).

Portugal

In Portugal, the student population in higher education is now increasingly female at all levels of training, including doctoral studies (PORDATA, 2020). There are 51, 200 graduated women, representing 58% of the total number of graduates (PORDATA, 2021).

​

The number of female lecturers in Portuguese higher education represents 45% of the total. In public and private university teaching, there are 3,8% women in the full professor category (as opposed to 9% of men). Women are about 51% of the total human resources working in R&D.

 

However, women are underrepresented at higher levels of research careers, being also more vulnerable to earn less than man, due to their minor participation in outstretch activities and projects with companies.

Some universities are now developing Gender Equality Plans.

 

The objectives of these interventions are, among others:

​

To make women's work more visible;

To generate diversity in access to activities that remain masculinised (e.g. academic juries and/or events);

To develop other gender-sensitive practices (e.g. allocation of timetables, calendars, the guidance of doctoral theses, harassment, sexist language, etc.).

Not with standing the effort of some institutions, namely the CIG, studies (Sales & Augusto, 2017) specially dedicated to projects in this field in Portugal demonstrate the difficulties that teams aiming at structural changes from gender equality plans face on the ground, from the diagnosis stages to the implementation stages of structures specialised in gender equality issues, as academy and science is permeated by acute structural sexism.

​

A law from 2019 (despacho normativo 18/2019) defined the need for companies to have a Gender Equality Plan. In the same year, a specific law defined the requisites for public organizations to achieve gender parity in management positions (Law 26/2019).

​​

In accordance with the European Commission Strategy for Gender Equality 2020-2025, the year 2021 has been decisive for the advancement of Gender Equality Plans in Universities in Portugal, while EU has established the obligation for universities that apply for international projects to have a GEP implemented, meeting a series of conditions (CE, 2021)

Serbia

Data for the academic year 2019/2020 show that 137,910 female students and 104,058 male students enrolled in higher schools and faculties, whereas most girls chose faculties in the fields of humanities, arts and medicine, while boys usually enrolled in the faculties of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, construction, agriculture, forestry and veterinary medicine. In the same academic year, 25,002 women and 17,947 men graduated, while 448 women and 334 men earned a PhD degree.

​

According to the Republic Statistical Office, for the academic year 2019/2020 a total of 16210 teaching staff (teachers and associates) was employed at faculties and universities out of which 8147 are women.


As is the case with general population, women at HEI and scientific institutions are underrepresented in decision making positions compared to their male counterparts.

To some extent and only recently, both gender equality and balance is introduced as a specific topic to be addressed by some of the faculties (rather than universities) in Serbia.

 

A good example is the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade Draft Action Plan for Achieving Gender Equality at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law, with proposed measures related to:

Legal and institutional-organizational framework

Establishing a Faculty Commissioner for Equality and confidential counsellors;

 

Analysis and critical reassessment and amendment of general acts of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law with the aim of creating conditions for achieving gender equality;

 

Gender balance in hiring academic staff; improving the protection against discrimination of the persons who conduct expert, administrative and technical jobs;

 

Creating of conditions for efficient reconciliation of employees’ professional and family duties;

 

Support for students with family duties.

Educational framework 

Introducing obligatory instruction on the principles and values of gender equality and the struggle against discrimination and sexual harassment;

 

Reassessment of the study programmes, syllabi and textbooks for particular courses from the gender perspective.

Cultural framework 

Investigating the scale of gender based stereotypes and prejudices /scale of sexism/, and the elements of the patriarchal matrix;

 

Struggle against particular forms of sexual and other harassment of students and employees.

United Kingdom

Some data exists which explores the gender of those applying to different university courses (see Stemwomen, 2021). In particular, research has shown that a lower number of women apply to courses in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

 

However, there are other subjects where women are overrepresented – such as in nursing, where it is estimated that over 80% of nursing students are women (see this report from the Royal College of Nursing, 2020).

 

Broadly speaking, women are underrepresented in terms of the number of lecturers/researchers within UK institutions (see Santos & Dang Van Phu, 2018), with multiple reports suggesting they make under half of the academic staff at Universities. Although the numbers differ by report, the highest ratio reported in any single document appears to be that 45% of academics are women. This report, however, also notes that there is a general lack of female full professors (see this article in the Times Higher Education, 2015).

​

Findings by the HESA reveal that in the academic year 2019/2020 62.6% of non-academic members of staff at Universities were women (37.3% were men, 0.1% were ‘other’2) (see HESA, 2021).

 

While this is a structural issue, rather than a difference caused by overt misogyny, such differences in labour contribute towards an environment where women may struggle to progress into higher paying posts. 

 

 

One way that NGOs have attempted to address the lack of diversity and implicit misogyny which prevents women from both entering and progressing into more well-paid positions in academia is through accredited schemes.

One such scheme is the Athena Swan Charter, run by Advance HE. Schemes such as the Athena Swan have been established to both support and celebrate diversity – including gender diversity. The scheme ensures that issues connected to gender (but which are not “gender-specific”), such as childcare, are addressed in a way which helps individuals with such needs (Reuters, 2020, The Guardian, 2021, Independent 2021).

Training is often available for members of staff – and most Universities require this as part of a member of staff’s probation.

 

Issues around gender, equality, and diversity often appear in University communications – such as newsletters or marketing materials, but both staff and students are not required to engage with this supplementary material.

 

Ultimately, while gender, equality, and diversity are somewhat present in university settings, and staff should be required to have a minimal understanding of such topics, they are sometimes overlooked in terms of areas to be taught.

Turkey

Alongside the women, the LGBTIQ community also becomes a target of gender based hate and extremism. In Turkey homophobia is widespread according to the Pew Research Centre’s data (Erdogan & Koten, 2014). Legal provisions in Turkey do not make any explicit discrimination based on identity, sexual orientation, and/or gender.

​

However, there are many examples of the laws applied discriminatorily against LGBTIQ citizens. The reason for that kind of discrimination may come from the fact that the LGBTIQ community is not mentioned in any legislation.

​

The only exception is that sex reassignment. In the Turkish Civil Code Article no.40, the situation of sex reassignment is addressed.

​

According to article 40 “A person who wants to change his/her sex has to apply to the court personally and ask for permission for sex reassignment (Biçmen & BekiroÄŸulları, 2014).

 

For this permission to be given, the applicant must have completed the age of 18 and must be unmarried. Besides he/she must prove with an official health board report issued by an education and research hospital that he/she is of transsexual nature, that the sex reassignment is compulsory for his/her mental health, and that he/she is permanently deprived of the capacity of reproduction.” (Atamer, 2005, p. 66).

 

Even so, this article doesn’t seem like protection for those who want to change his/her sex, instead, it indicates the rules when it comes to sex reassignment.

The Republic of Turkey doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage legally.

As violence is justified, hate crimes and suicides against them increase. Many LGBTIQ, especially trans people, are exposed to police violence, sexist swearing, and insults (Kaos GL Cultural Research and Solidarity Association., 2019).

 

The most detailed report on the problems of LGBTIQ individuals is prepared by the Amnesty International in 2011 (Amnesty International, 2011).

 

On the other hand, European Commission prepares progress reports for Turkey. In the 2008 report, the commission touch on the problems of LGBTIQ people in Turkey (EU Monitor, 2008). YOK is the institution that the Turkish universities are bound to and it has its own legislation.

 

Once the Legislation of YOK is reviewed, there is not any article that is gender-related. In addition to the situation, YOK tried to create a gender equality document.

 

Turkey, after the murder of Özgecan Aslan, who was a female university student, YOK President Yekta Saraç, who came together with the female rectors of universities for the 8 March International Women's Day in 2016, published the "Higher Education Institutions Gender Equality Attitude Document".

 

With the document, it was committed to acting sensitively on gender equality and justice in all components of YÖK.

 

However, the document was abolished because of the political atmosphere of Turkey and the so-called misunderstanding the gender equality (Polatdemir & Göker, 2019).

MOST IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS, BEST PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES

Major challenges
Steps made to map hate, extremism and violence
Good practices to tackle hate, abuse, and extremism based on gender
Important legal and policy sources

Steps made to map hate, extremism and violence

A part of the diversity of actions taken in the different countries, in reason of political contexts, strength of activist movements, and democratic maturity, there are some core developments.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that:

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or otheropinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

​

Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

​

The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union guarantees the right to human dignity; to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; to non- discrimination; and to an effective remedy and to a fair trial.

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights states that:

Countries must simplify the reporting and improve the recording, investigation

and punishment of hate crimes to fully ensure the rights of victims

 

The EU has recently adopted important policy documents for the period 2020- 2025:

  • The Strategy on Victims' Rights 

  • The Action Plan Against Racism.

Studies commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizen’s Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee (2020) argued that hate speech and hate crimes poison societies by threatening individual rights, human dignity and equality, reinforcing tensions between social groups, disturbing public order, and putting at risk peaceful coexistence.

​

The United Nations Organization Secretary-General launched in 2018 the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech. The initiative was to respond to a surge in global hate speech, which has moved into the mainstream, and started to threaten democratic values, even in established democracies.

 

The Plan identified 13 Key Commitments, which together represent a complex social and political strategy to fight against intolerance – without mentioning legal restrictions of speech at all.

The strategic plan:

Relies on searching for causes through research and data analysis, applying counter-speech in the form of spreading knowledge and strategic communication as well as advocacy.

 

It aims to address hate speech through a coordinated response that tackles the root causes and drivers of hate speech, as well as its impact on victims and societies.

 

From the European perspective, this approach is certainly more apt to tackle the

problem of hate speech, especially seen as the stepping stone of hate crimes in an era when the dripping of hatred through the myriads of communication channels is hardly controllable without turning off the tap.

 

UNESCO's Member States have adopted a historic decision in order to increase UNESCO's capacity to support States in developing strategies to prevent violent extremism.

​

In addition, UNESCO is committed to implementing the UN Secretary-General's Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism by paying particular attention to the following priorities:

Ativo 11.png

Education, skills development and employment facilitation

Ativo 13.png

Youth empowerment

Ativo 12.png

Strategic communication, Internet and social media

Ativo 15.png

Gender equality and women's empowerment

During 2022, in light of the preparation of the High Commissioner’s report, as

requested by Human Rights Council resolution 47/21, OHCHR (The Office of the

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) welcomes information from all States, including independent governmental entities, as well as United Nations entities, inter-governmental and regional organizations, civil society and non-governmental organizations and all other relevant stakeholders, concerning systemic racism, violations of international human rights law.

 

The RAN (Radicalisation Awareness Network), which is part of the European

Commission, is of great relevance to the prevention of violent extremism focusing on alternatives, or opposing extremist propaganda and/or challenging extremist ideas, via the internet on blogs, websites or social media.

Good practices to tackle hate, abuse, and extremism based on gender

According to EIGE (2020), the best actions to change the current state of gender inequalities in higher education include:

Collection and distribution data on female representation in HE;

​

Enactment of policies to increase women’s full participation in HE;

​

Mentor and empower women to obtain leadership positions;

 

Develop initiatives and programs to help students make informed choices, free of

gender bias, regarding their future studies and careers;

 

Develop strategies to support female engagement in traditionally male-dominated

careers;

 

Deconstruct false images of stem and their biased connection to gender

stereotypes;

 

Offer guidance for the development of expertise and personal development of

women;

 

Offer flexible working hours, create a childcare facility and offer the possibility of

working from home.)

Taking into account the difference in the perception of the meaning of human rights, extremism and violence in the various members of the European Union, this toolkit seeks to offer a tool that, while not ignoring these historical, cultural, social and economic differences, can be a document of good practices for mapping national and local situations around the impact of extremist, xenophobic and racist dimensions in the space of social relations within the university context for:

  • Defining and implementing measures for raising awareness of gender based violence in academe, including sexual harassment;

​

  • Planning and implementing mandatory courses regarding the prevention and the fight against harassment, and gender violence for teachers, and nonacademic staff;

​

  • Engaging actively academic and non – academic staff in increasing their awareness about how to deal with gender based claims;

​

  • Adopting stereotype-neutral educational approaches at all levels of graduation;

​

  • Fostering representativeness - integrating values, traditions and customs representative of various religions, races and nationalities, both in everyday life and in celebrations;

​

  • Increasing the social and ethnic representativeness of teachers - with the aim of enabling students to recognize gender based hate crimes and search for help;

​

  • Designing and implement gender equality plans which safeguard diversity of gender and race;

​

  • Collect, distribute and analyse data on indicators of gender based extremism and violence in campuses and show the attainment of gender diversity goals;​

  • Enacting of policies to increase women’s full participation in HE, caring about diversity of race, and physical abilities;

​

  • Implementing mentoring practices to empower women of all races and nationalities to obtain leadership positions in academy;

​

  • Develop initiatives and programs to help students make informed choices, free of gender bias, regarding their future studies and careers

​

  • Develop strategies to support female engagement in traditionally male-dominated careers;

​

  • Considering gender as a main topic to be discusses across scientific areas and disciplines in higher Education Institutions;

​

  • Fostering gender sensitive campaigns that involve student’s unions, and organizations in developing a fair and inclusive campuses;

​

  • Fostering collaboration between Higher Education institutions and other organizations especially targeted with gender based violence prevention;

​

  • Implementing a code of conduct aiming at explain why all forms of abuse and harassment are incompatible with institutional mission;

​

  • Engaging stakeholders and increasing funding for higher education institutions to develop inclusive and non-discriminatory practices and strategies.

Gender equality plans

Gender equality plans are part of an institutional strategy to map, prevent and react against gender hate and violence in campuses. They should be design and implemented throughout a participatory process in which students of all degrees can participate, by giving their suggestions, and identifying the major endeavors.

​

There is a variety of options to take, when designing and implementing a gender equality plan. EU defined as mandatory some of them.

 

According to directives of the European Commission (CE, 2021), a GEP must:

Be a public document: The GEP should be a formal document signed by the top management, and disseminated within the institution.

 

It should demonstrate a commitment to gender equality, set clear goals and detailed actions and measures to achieve them.

Include arrangements for data collection and monitoring: GEPs must be evidence-based and founded on sex or gender-disaggregated baseline data collected across all staff categories. This data should inform the GEP’s objectives and targets, indicators, and ongoing evaluation of progress.

Have dedicated resources: Resources for the design, implementation, and monitoring of GEPs may include funding for specific positions such as Equality Officers or Gender Equality Teams as well as earmarked working time for academic, management and administrative staff.

Be supported by training and capacity-building: Actions may include developing gender competence and tackling unconscious gender bias among staff, leaders and decision-makers, establishing working groups dedicated to specific topics, and raising awareness through workshops and communication activities”.

Gender Equality Plan

Source: (CE, 2021)

Code of Conduct

Along with a Gender Equality Plan, institutions are expected to have specific codes of conduct and protocols for gender based violence prevention.

 

These protocols should address what people (students, academic and non-academic staff) should do in case of feeling injured because of their gender.

 

Following, you can learn about the three main types of information to consider in a Code of Conduct:

CODE OF CONDUCT AT HE

Respect for equal opportunities for the entire academic community, not only in terms of student access and performance, but also in terms of professional career progression (...) without any type of discrimination, dependence or subordination;

The condemnation of discriminatory attitudes inside the campuses or outside, based on cultural, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality or political, ideological, religious or sexual orientations, namely actions of physical, verbal, moral or psychological offence, as well as situations of coercion, intimidation, harassment or humiliation";

Coexistence and full integration of all colleagues into the academic community, in a climate of freedom and mutual respect, with the renunciation of any act of discrimination, intimidation, humiliation or harassement.

Most important stakeholders

Key gender equality stakeholders are:

 

  • Representatives from national and local authorities

  • Government officials

  • Police force

  • Civil society organisations

  • Students and students' associations

  • Trade unions and professional orders 

  • Experts on promoting gender equality

​​

For the effective implementation of gender mainstreaming, the involvement of civil society such as centres for women’s studies and research, academic and educational institutions, the private sector, the media, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – especially women’s organisations – and all other actors of civil society need also be recognized and acknowledged.

 

There should be also a strong co-operation with immigrant associations, religious leaders and stakeholders in order to more effectively understand cultural differences which vary from Finnish laws and culture.

 

Governmental actors and politicians have the most important role in equality work. They give national guidelines by laws and resources to other actors. Local government, employers, associations and communities have their own role in executing these policies. It is also important that there is more commitment from the media and social communication, especially in defining actions that contribute to better inform the population about the various types of gender based crime that affect higher education institutions.

Unfortunately, there is a wide plethora of hate and violence crimes that have gender based motivations. They may refer directly abuse, harassment or violence, but they also may be linked to the use of jokes, or other forms of speech that have the propose of demeaning and humiliating a person due to gender.

Sexual harassment is unfortunately one of the more common manifestations. Below, you find a list of behaviors that you need to eradicate, whether being a teacher, a manager or a student.

Identifying sexual harassment in campuses

List of behaviors that you need to condemn in order to prevent and tackle with sexual harassment in campuses:

  • Talking or telling jokes of a sexual and obscene nature;

  • Sending e-mails, letters, messages or making phone calls of a sexual nature;

  • Sharing or showing drawings or images with sexual connotations;

  • Expose the evaluation of a person solely by their physical attributes;

  • Whistling or making other types of inappropriate sounds, i.e. of a sexual nature to someone;

  • Making sexual comments about the way one dresses or looks;

  • Making gestures of a sexual nature, such as insinuating glances;

  • Making direct and/or indirect threats with the purpose of obtaining sexual favours;

  • Repeatedly inviting a person to have sex or to go out;

  • Raising inappropriate questions about someone's sex life or private life;

  • Hugging, touching, kissing or touching a person without permission;

  • Following a person or trying to control them based on gender stereotypes

  • Verbal attacks with offensive and/or humiliating content;

  • Ridiculing a person's physical or psychological characteristics due to gender;

  • Threatening with disciplinary sanctions without any kind of plausible reason;

  • Regularly criticising in public people due using gender-related comments;

  • Comment and accuse someone due to gender;

  • Promoting social isolation by showing contempt or ignoring colleagues or workers because of gender;

  • Constantly take over ideas, proposals and / or work from colleagues and subordinates without identifying the author of them, using private information concerning gender identity;

  • Systematically spreading rumours and/or malicious comments or repeated criticism about co-workers, subordinates or hierarchical superiors due to their gender;

  • Systematically insinuate that the person in question has mental or family problems;

  • Making frequent jokes with offensive content gender allusive.

Dealing with gender based violence claims

For policy makers (HE managers, teachers, and technical staff in general), acting for the prevention and eradication of gender based violence can be an exhausting mission, as measures and strategies must be evaluated and updated every academic year.

​

In addition to the advantages of having institutional frameworks targeted with gender based violence, you need to consider the high relevance of promoting workshops and specific courses for professionals to learn about how to deal with reports on claims concerning these types of crimes.

 

Below, you find some important indications about how you should behave when coming across with situations alike:

  • Professionals should be aware of their own prejudices and avoid expressing them;

  • It is important to pay attention to the differences and inequalities, towards the victims, which may establish power relations;

  • It is advisable to get information on relevant issues in the interaction with the victims, according to their characteristics (religion, sexuality, disability)

  • Not expressing value judgments about the victims, in order to respect dignity and preserve trust;

  • Ensuring a non-discriminatory approach and an undifferentiated treatment, without, however, falling into insensitivity;

  • To maintain active listening, paying attention to both content and form, tone of voice and non-verbal language;

  • No assumptions should be made about the identity of the victims, nor stereotyped statements;

  • The language used should be non-pathologising and inclusive, as regards gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental condition.

Major challenges

Training of teaching and non-teaching staff on the latest practices in sex education;

 

Review and reinforcement of curricular programs and school manuals with scientific content on sexual and/or gender diversity;

 

Creation of family therapy and school guidance programs to resolve conflicts related to free sexual orientation and gender identity;

 

Production and dissemination of multimedia content to combat discrimination and intolerance of LGBT+ people within the school community;

 

Awareness campaigns for the eradication of racist expressions;

 

Creation of a university platform for the presentation of complaints related to racism;

 

Ensure the monitoring of victims with psychologists, within the university space;

 

Implementation of a plan of clarification sessions and lectures with the presence of people informed about the legal framework and witnesses and victims of cases of racism, who are willing to share their stories;

 

Ensure the presence of ethnicities and races in the various positions and spaces in higher education institutions;

 

Ensure the development of an institutional communication strategy inside HEI and centrally supported by government especially directed to deal with gender based crimes at HEI.

Important legal and policy sources

There are many important sources at international and national level that should be considered when defining a strategy for gender based violence prevention.

Organisations:

​

  • UNO - United Nations Organization

  • UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 

  • EU - European Commission

  • EIGE - European Institute for Gender Equality

  • The World Bank

  • ILO - International Labour Organization

  • Amnesty International

Click here

Additional country-specific information

Cyprus

Serbia

Finland

UK

Portugal

Turkey

Cyprus

The Office of the Commissioner for Administration and Human Rights within the framework of its powers as Equality Authority, has secured financing through the European Community’s financial programme “PROGRESS” for developing actions in an attempt to combat/eradicator violence against women and girls in the Cypriot society (Pavlou & Christodoulou, 2012).

 

The Office for Combating Discrimination has been established by the police force to deal mainly with issues regarding racism and xenophobia. Incidents of hate, abuse, and extremism based on gender are not formally investigated by the OCD.

 

Until today, there is no available data regarding discriminatory incidents based on sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition, there is no secure system to anonymously reporting this kind of incidents. Legislative measures that penalise ‘hate speech,’ do not includesexual orientation or gender identity as grounds for expressions of hatred.

 

There is no legal framework in place to regulate the internet and social media either. Posting degrading photos on the internet and disseminating them via mobile phone, creating blogs or profiles on social networking websites with deliberately incorrect content, sending threats/obscene and offensive content, and the publication of photographs or videos without the consent of the individual, are just a few of the usual internet bullying incidents reported to the helpline of the Safer Internet Centre ‘CyberEthics’ in Cyprus (Kapsou & Mantis, 2012).

ORGANISATIONS

  • Office for Combating Discrimination

 

  • Safer Internet Centre ‘CyberEthics’ in Cyprus

 

  • UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW),

POLICY DOCUMENTS

  • National action plan on promoting gender - 2014–2017

​

  • National Action Plan (NAP) on Gender Equality 2018-2021

​

  • Green Book for Mass Media practitioners (EIGE, 2020).

​

  • “PROGRESS” - program for developing actions in an attempt to combat/eradicator violence against women and girls in the Cypriot society (Pavlou & Christodoulou, 2012)

​​

Finland

Finland is guided by Government Action Plan for Gender Equality 2020–2023.

 

This plan promotes gender equality and implements gender equality policy at all levels. Main areas of the plan are targeted to decision-making, education and research, working life, reconciliation of work and family life, men and gender equality, violence against women, interpersonal violence and trafficking in human beings, and the status of gender equality authorities and gender mainstreaming.

 

TUAS has a security announcement form (online) that is meant for students, staff and teachers to announce any disturbing, threatening or dangerous behavior in campuses or TUAS activities. This form has a sector for unequal treatment or sexual harassment. After the form is received the incident is investigated with persons involved. All UAS in Finland have some kind of procedure for announcements.

ORGANISATIONS

​​

​​

  • Ministry of Education and Culture. (2020). Report on the promotion of gender equality and non-discrimination in higher education institutions. Retrieved from http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-263-859-5

​​

POLICY DOCUMENTS

  • Action plan for gender equality 2020–2023

Portugal

HEI are now being pressured to create and implement a Gender Equality Plan, encompassing specific procedures for dealing with gender based violence. Most are governed by normal legislation, and the parties involved can resort to the legal instances provided for, for the analysis and evaluation of the problems. Even those universities which are governed by codes of ethics, with reference to non- discrimination by gender, do not contemplate specific procedures for referring the victims of this type of crime. In general, the quality assessment systems of the institutions do not contemplate mechanisms to facilitate complaints.

 

Recently (end of 2021, and 2022), several formal complaints by a student in relation to a staff member and several episodes of sexual harassment in the campus, amplified by social media, have also steered significant discussion on gender violence. Consequently, several members of the implied universities, mostly students, have described episodes of violence and organized a public demonstration.

ORGANISATIONS

​​

  • APAV. (2020). Folha informativa: Crimes de ódio.

​​

  • Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG, Comissão para a Cidadania e a Igualdade de Género).

​​

​​

POLICY DOCUMENTS

  • The law. 61/2018, of 21st May, approved the National Strategy for Equality and Non-Discrimination 2018-2030 "Portugal + Equal" (ENIND), defining major goals of global and structural action until 2030, for the achievement of equality and non-discrimination. This strategy is composed of three main measures that have guided the action of public institutions.

​​

  • The Action Plan for Equality between Women and Men PNAIMH;

​​

  • The Action Plan to Prevent and Combat Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (NAVMVD);

​​

  • The Action Plan to Combat Discrimination on the grounds of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, and Sexual Characteristics (PNAOIC)

​​

  • Several laws have been implemented for raising gender equality, including in politics, by introducing electoral quotas (European Institute for Gender Equality, n.d.).

Serbia

No uniform approach is there for a HEI to report incidents. Most of HEIs however have adopted Codex of professional ethics that state in broad terms normally the prohibition of any form of discrimination including on the bases of gender.

 

Yet, formal procedures to report an incident of hate, abuse, and extremism based on gender are not clearly stated in the relevant Rulebook on ethical commissions and board for professional ethics operation with no specific norms included and relevant for the gender equality aspects.

 

The Law on Equality between Sexes(3) was adopted in 2009, enabling anyone who is discriminated against on the grounds of sex to bring the case before a court and seek legal remedies and/or compensation. The Law does not recognize gender non-conforming individuals who fall outside the gender binary, thus failing to provide those individuals with sufficient protection from all forms of discrimination.

 

Law on Financial Support for Families with Children(4) from 2018 talks about the available financial support including child benefits, parental payments, maternity leave pay and leave of absence payments for the special care of a child up to five years of age.

​

The National Strategy for Gender Equality 2016 - 2020 and the Action Plan for its implementation in the period 2016 –2018 focused on betterment of economic position of women in general especially at the labor market and workplace. The Strategy of Prevention and Protection against Discrimination and its Action Plan 2014-2018 provides for measures aimed at improving the position of women, identified as one of the groups vulnerable to discrimination together with children, persons with different abilities, older persons, LGBTQIA+, national minorities, refugees, internally displaced persons, persons with medical conditions that may constitute a basis for discrimination and members of religious communities.

 

New Strategy for Prevention and Protection Against Discrimination 2020-2025 is currently undergoing public debates.

 

National Youth Strategy for the period 2015-2025 with the supporting Action Plan contain measures aimed at:

  • promoting female entrepreneurship and employing women from vulnerable groups;

  • improving the employability, employment and social inclusion of young persons, including in particular those who are at-risk of social exclusion;

  • promoting gender equality and an inclusive society;

  • educating the young in the vulnerable groups and increasing outreach to young persons who dropped out of (or were not included in) formal education;

  • support to young parents, in particular young mothers, for continuing education;

  • reducing the marked gender inequalities in the refugee population;

  • and other measures intended to improve the position of vulnerable groups.

​​

Law on Higher Education (Council of Higher Education, 2018) from 2018 merely mentions as students’ rights not to be discriminated.

 

Similarly, Strategy for Development of Education of the Republic of Serbia until 2020, in part related to the vision for academic studies development, envisaged the possibility for introducing different studying regimes to address working engagements of students, it does not mention the same approach when it comes to pregnant students or recent mothers.

 

Also, the Strategy does not mention the importance of having gender segregated statistics, nor does it state any means of protection from sexual harassment or gender based discrimination.

ORGANISATIONS
POLICY DOCUMENTS

  • Strategy of Prevention and Protection against Discrimination and its Action Plan 2014-2018

​

​

  • Strategy for Development of Education of the Republic of Serbia until 2020

3 According to the law: ‘sex’ relates to biological features of a person, whereas ‘gender’ means socially established roles, position and status of women and men in public and private lives from which, due to social, cultural and historic differences, discrimination ensues on the basis of biologically belonging to a sex.


4 Law on financial support for families with children (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 113/2017 I 50/2018).

United Kingdom

Although each university has different time scales, a number of the Universities include provisions to extend investigatory procedures based on “extenuating circumstances” – meaning that sometimes investigations, even ones which might lead to criminal convictions, can be arduous.

 

This is also often compounded by a lack of evidence, or circumstantial evidence, making investigations into misogynistic behavior more challenging. 

 

Although each university has different time scales, a number of the Universities include provisions to extend investigatory procedures based on “extenuating circumstances” – meaning that sometimes investigations, even ones which might lead to criminal convictions, can be arduous.

 

This is also often compounded by a lack of evidence, or circumstantial evidence, making investigations into misogynistic behavior more challenging. Although some structural policies and schemes are in place to attempt to address inequalities across several sectors (such as the Athena Swan charter in UK Higher Education contexts), there is still a long way to go until equality is achieved.

POLICY DOCUMENTS

  • Athena Swan charter in UK Higher Education

Turkey

In 2016, the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey was founded by law. Its duty is that to protect and develop human rights, to work to ensure the right of people to be treated equally, to fight torture and ill-treatment effectively. Even though, the aim of the institution seems like a mechanism to prevent the rights of LGBTIQ+ individuals along with the other, its activities are far from what it promised and have nothing to do with the LGBTIQ+ community.

 

YOK is the institution that the Turkish universities are bound to and it has its own legislation. Once the Legislation of YOK is reviewed, there is not any article that is gender-related. In addition to the situation, YOK tried to create a gender equality document.

ORGANISATIONS

​

  • Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey

​

  • YOK

TRAINING TOOLKIT

What are the expected outputs of the training toolkit?
01

The toolkit envisions mainly to facilitate self-assessment and reflection about:

  • institutional practices;

  • interpersonal and community practices (for example, at the level of interaction

among students; between teachers and students; teachers-staff-students etc.).

02

It also mains at facilitating the identification of HEI’s strengths and opportunities for improvement, and priorities for capacity building.

03

This self-assessment and reflection can offer greater opportunities for organizational and programmatic growth, as well as opportunities for change and empowerment at the level of group and interpersonal relationships, oriented to prevent and challenge gender based hate and extremism.

04

In short, this toolkit will help to think about what it looks like to keep innovating and prioritizing HEI’s organizational learning and training goals in regards to challenge gender based hate and extremism.

We would like to invite you to the part of the toolkit in which we have included ‘self-assessment exercises’ which aim prompt self-reflection and discussion on diverse items related to gender based hate and extremism, while, at the same time, to encourage a self-critical attitude.

​

HERE YOU CAN FIND ACTIVITIES FOR 

University students; student's unions
HEI administration and policy- makers
Teaching and non teaching staff
Other inspiring sources
bottom of page