New research reveals that gender-based violence, including domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV), has a significant impact on higher education access and participation. This research illuminates that higher education can be transformative for students and for community-wide efforts to end gender-based violence.
In 2024, Penny Jane Burke presented the voices of research participants in an address to over 1000 University leaders and policy makers.
The address highlighted the profound impact of GBV on educational access and participation, underscoring the need for comprehensive support systems and institutional reforms to create safer and more inclusive learning environments.
“Globally 1 in 3 women will experience gender-based violence in their lifetime…These numbers are staggering and reveal that we have a long way to go to building equity.”
The initial meeting was held on 6th November 2024 at the Regent African hotel in Accra. Participants initiated discussions on the key agendas of the UNESCO Chair in addressing Gender Based Violence and identified strategies for development within the Ghanaian context. Thirteen members participated in the symposium including from administrators and faculty from the University of Ghana, Valley view university, University of Media, Arts and Communication, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and the Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED). One participant was a health practitioner and the Head nurse at the Ghana Judicial clinic. The symposium was led by Associate Professor Gifty Oforiwaa Gyamera – a key partner of the Gender Justice Hub.
Gender in an Era of Post-truth Populism draws together leading feminist scholars of gender and education to explore the current significance of the rise of populist policies and discourses and the challenges it poses to the hard-won battles regarding the rights of women, LGBTQI+communities, immigrants, and minorities.
Our research indicates that victim-survivors are often highly motivated to succeed in higher education to assist other victim-survivors and help eradicate gender-based violence. Yet the impact of gender-based violence on educational disadvantage and thus victim-survivors’ socioeconomic equality and well-being is commonly overlooked. Lack of expertise limits opportunities for capacity-building of victim-survivors, as future leaders and change-agents, and the workforces involved in developing appropriate systems.
This project mobilises higher education to ensure that the next generation of professionals are change-makers, whose knowledge is formed with – or as – victim-survivors and high-quality research evidence. These change-makers will help lessen the huge personal, economic and social costs of life-long trauma, educational disruption and illness associated with experiences of gender-based violence.
Higher Education Institutions have a responsibility to ensure that all staff and graduates are fully prepared to contribute to building gender equality and preventing gender-based violence in their professional roles. As part of efforts to end gender-based violence, teaching curriculum across all fields needs to thoroughly prepare students to recognise and address gender-based violence in all its manifestations. Armed with a more thorough understanding, graduates can both support victim-survivors, and act to eradicate gender-based violence and the gender inequality that generates it.
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genderjusticehub@newcastle.edu.au
Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308
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This project was prepared on Awabakal, Darkinjung, Gadigal, Wonnarua and Worimi lands. We acknowledge the unceded lands on which we work and we pay our respects to Elders past and present.
The cover artwork was produced by participants in the Claim Our Place program. Elements from participants’ artworks were collated by Anna Rolfe at the University Galleries.