Rethinking Institutional Responses to Gender-Based Violence in Academia as Forms of Care in the Nordic Context

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/ogj.2024.238

Keywords:

Gender Equality Policy, Higher Education, Sexual Harassment, University

Abstract

This article explores institutional responses to gender-based violence (GBV) in three Nordic higher education institutions (HEIs) through the concept of institutional care processes (Tronto 2013). The care framework provides insights into the challenges and opportunities in HEIs' efforts to address GBV. The article presents three detailed case studies conducted in 2022 on the implementation of anti-GBV policies and practices in HEIs in Finland, Iceland, and Sweden. By reframing institutional responses as forms of care, a gap in the care processes was identified. The care work was often driven by "driving-spirits" but lacked recognition, value, and structures for long-term capacity building. While HEIs fulfill their duty to care by identifying needs and assigning responsibility for meeting them, there was a lack of adequate working conditions in place to ensure sustainable care provision could be done.

Author Biographies

Angelica Simonsson, University of Gothenburg

Angelica Simonsson has a PhD in educational work and works as a researcher and senior analyst at the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research, University of Gothenburg. She has previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Örebro University on the Horizon 2020 funded project UniSAFE. Angelica previously worked as a lecturer in education, mainly involved in teaching courses on gender and education, and she has worked as an equality officer at the Faculty of Education, University of Gothenburg. Her research interests are in the field of gender, sexuality, discrimination and education.

Nicole Ovesen, Uppsala University

Nicole Ovesen has a PhD in gender studies from Uppsala University, where she wrote a dissertation on intimate partner violence and help-seeking in lesbian and queer relationships. She currently works as an associate senior lecturer at the National Centre for Knowledge on Men's Violence against Women (NCK) at Uppsala University. She has previously worked as a post-doctoral researcher at Göteborg University and Örebro University on the EU Horizon 2020 funded project UniSAFE, which examined gender-based violence in academia. Nicole Ovesen’s research focuses on the impact and conceptualization of different forms of violence in relation to gender and sexuality.

Finnborg Salome Steinþórsdóttir, University of Iceland

Finnborg Salome Steinþórsdóttir is an adjunct lecturer and a postdoctoral researcher in Gender Studies at the University of Iceland. Her research focuses on gendered power relations in organisations, organisational cultures, gender-based violence and strategies to progress equality, including gender budgeting and gender mainstreaming. She is a member of the University of Iceland’s Professional Council on responding to gender-related and sexual harassment and other sexual violence and the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police External Professional Council on discrimination, gender and sexual harassment, gender violence and bullying.

Liisa Husu, Örebro University

Liisa Husu is a gender expert and Senior Professor of Sociology, Örebro University, Sweden and affiliated scholar, Hanken School of Economics, Department of Management and Organization, Finland. She has been engaged in gender issues in academia in research, policy and civil society since the early 1980s in Nordic countries, Europe and beyond. Her research and publications focus on gen­­der dyna­­mics and in­­equa­­li­ties in academia, including sexual harassment and sexism; research funding organizations,­ and research po­­licy. European engagements with six collaborative research projects on gender and science include Horizon 2020 project UniSAFE on GBV in universities and two EU expert groups.

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Published

2024-05-31

How to Cite

Simonsson, A., Ovesen, N., Steinþórsdóttir, F. S., & Husu, L. (2024). Rethinking Institutional Responses to Gender-Based Violence in Academia as Forms of Care in the Nordic Context. Open Gender Journal, 8. https://doi.org/10.17169/ogj.2024.238

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Vol. 8 (2024): Open Gender Journal

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Debate Feminista x Open Gender Journal

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Copyright (c) 2024 Angelica Simonsson, Nicole Ovesen, Finnborg Salome Steinþórsdóttir, Liisa Husu

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