Eliminating all forms of violence at in education particularly in Universities is not only the right thing to do from a human and labor rights perspective, but it also is the smart thing to do for employers and educational institutions in terms of workplace efficiency and productivity.
Equally important is the fact that sexual harassment is one of the leading causes of high turnover and absenteeism at school and work.7 Sexual harassment can be more prevalent in fields of study and jobs where there is an unequal sex ratio and large power differentials between women and men.
In Nigeria, 70 percent of female graduates from a sample of tertiary institutions reported having been sexually harassed, with the main perpetrators being classmates and lecturers. The effects experienced by victims were depression and perceived insecurity on campus.
A survey administered to 385 female graduate students from Ethiopia found that 78.2 percent of the respondents had experienced physical, 90.4 percent had experienced verbal, and 80 percent had experienced nonverbal form of sexual harassment, respectively.
The 2018 World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law data shows that in 59 countries, there are no laws on sexual harassment in the workplace. In 123 countries, there are no laws on sexual harassment in education.
In Africa, 36 of the 47 countries with data do not have laws penalizing sexual harassment in this area. Sexual harassment is a common form of violence that can cause enduring psychological harm. Both women and men are targets of such behavior, but evidence has shown that sexual harassment is primarily aimed at women.
Approximately 1 in 5 female university students experience some type of sexual assault in North America , but there is no nationally representative data on the scope of the problem in developing countries.
This is a significant knowledge gap, as experiencing sexual harassment can derail a woman’s educational attainment.
The goal of this guidance note is to identify specific evidence-based recommendations that tertiary education institutions can use to prevent, report and respond to sexual assault and sexual harassment.
This guidance note is not intended to replace policies and/or institutional approaches to dealing with unacceptable behaviors, but rather to provide further advice on how to address these issues based on good practices from around the world.
To the extent possible, institutions should refer to existing legislation, policies, codes of conduct and mechanisms already in place to prevent, report and respond
He’s a famous professor at Oxford in the UK, one of the world’s most prestigious universities. But across three decades and three institutions, women have described him as a sexual predator. During a two-year investigation, Al Jazeera’s I-Unit uncovers systematic failures inside the walls of academia that have only served to protect their lecturers. We hear from women who are fighting to shift the balance of power.
He’s a leading academic at the University of Oxford. His expertise is in times gone by. Both students and other lecturers say his drunken and abusive behaviour is also a throwback and has no place in the modern world.
Students started off admiring this lecturer at the University of Glasgow. They thought he cared about their academic careers. But when his comments and messages became more intimate and personal, they say he crossed boundaries and started grooming.Four women delivered separate complaints to Glasgow University about the behaviour of the same lecturer. Their experiences were strikingly similar but the University found the only person to have done anything wrong, wasn’t the accused, but the accuser.
The PhD student at Glasgow University was charismatic and charming and part of his appeal was his tragic past. But his relationships with several women became abusive and controlling. As our investigation dug deeper into his history in his home country, we uncovered his lies and the real story of his murdered wife.
More incredible revelations about how a PhD student at Glasgow University lied about his dead wife and falsely accused innocent people of killing her. Question is, why has it taken almost four years for Glasgow University to investigate multiple complaints about him?
