How can we understand gender violence in higher educational institutions? Conceptual framework

Abstract

Built on problematization as a methodological strategy, researchers from six Mexican central and occidental states built a conceptual frame that allow us to communicate with a common language regarding gender violence within higher education institutions (HEI) this conceptual frame directs our questions and onsite research strategies. Based on the conceptual frame we introduce, we consider a wider vision of violence that includes direct violence (such as verbal harassment, sexual harassment and rape) considering men and women as potential targets and offenders, structural violence (sexual stereotype per knowledge field) and cultural violence (discrimination based on sexual orientation or lack of women in directive level positions), this enables a better understanding of the problem itself within a social environment such as the educational one, concluding with a general outline of the violence in the HEI, that allows us to generate methody for our investigation. Given this approach, we constructed a questionnaire for students in order to examine direct violence (identifying sexual violence as offensive compliments, the touching of the body without consent and rape, relate it to other forms of direct violence (insults, threats and strokes). We also identified the sex-typing of fields of knowledge to analyze structural violence. To analyze cultural violence, we considered cultural exclusion (homophobia and sexism) and the number of women in positions of power in HEI, questioning the articulation of these three types of violence.