You Can Knock on the Doors and Windows of the University, but Nobody Will Care: How Universities Benefit from Network Silence around Gender-Based Violence /

Vilana Pilinkaitė Sotirovič; Anke Lipinsky; Katarzyna Struzińska; Beatriz Ranea Triviño

doi:10.3390/socsci13040199

Title	You Can Knock on the Doors and Windows of the University, but Nobody Will Care: How Universities Benefit from Network Silence around Gender-Based Violence /
Authors	Pilinkaitė Sotirovič, Vilana ; Lipinsky, Anke ; Struzińska, Katarzyna ; Ranea Triviño, Beatriz
DOI	10.3390/socsci13040199
Full Text
Is Part of	Social Science: Special Issue The Social Power of Gender-Based Violence and Abuse in the Workplace).. MDPI, Switzerland : MDPI, Switzerland. 2024, 13, 4, p. 1-18.. ISSN 2076-0760
Keywords [eng]	silencing ; network silence ; reporting ; sexual harassment ; higher education ; institutional practices ; qualitative analysis ; inequality regime ; intersectionality
Abstract [eng]	This paper exposes the role of universities in creating silence around gender-based violence in higher education, drawing on narratives from 39 qualitative interviews with victims/survivors and bystanders about reporting incidents and experiences. In this paper, we extend concept of ‘network silence’ around sexual harassment to other forms of gender-based violence. Our research applies three components of the theoretical model of network silence, namely, self-silencing by victims/survivors, silencing, and not hearing by others, and analyses their contextual manifestations through the reporting experiences of victims/survivors and bystanders. This helps to identify the traits of the informal organisational structures and power dynamics, gendered attitudes, actors, and factors which facilitate silencing. The intersectional approach in our analysis of organisational contextual traits contributes to the research on inequality regimes in universities. The findings suggest that universities are making limited efforts to address silence around gender-based violence. We conclude that shared beliefs among the leadership about the reputation and prestige of the university facilitate the endurance of silence in universities. Our findings indicate reasons why universities fail to create spaces that are safe from gender-based violence.
Published	MDPI, Switzerland : MDPI, Switzerland
Type	Journal article
Language	English
Publication date	2024

„You Can Knock on the Doors and Windows of the University, but Nobody Will Care: How Universities Benefit from Network Silence around Gender-Based Violence /“