Cultures rendered gender inequality invisible in university student residential settings
Tracks
Stream 3
| Thursday, August 8, 2024 |
| 10:05 AM - 10:50 AM |
| Gallery 4 |
Overview
Brett Woods, Victoria University
Details
University student residential settings provide rich opportunities for students as they transition to university life and independence. However, these settings remain places where women and non-binary students are unsafe.
The scale of sexual violence in universities and residential settings is well documented, with gendered violence remaining at the “disturbing levels” identified by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2017. The fact that women are no safer in student accommodation than a decade ago has been recently spotlighted by the recent Commonwealth Inquiry into sexual consent laws and Australian Universities Accord Final Report. In these recent reports, the student accommodation sector has been put on notice that further oversight and sector regulation to address the persistence of sexual violence is forthcoming.
Despite sector efforts, current institutional responses do not address the root causes of the problem. As gender inequality and other intersecting forms of oppression and discrimination provide the underlying social context for gendered violence, cultural change is needed to disrupt gendered norms, stereotypes and gendered power differentials.
This presentation will share findings from research with students and student leaders/Residential Advisors in three diverse university student residential settings in Melbourne, Australia, examining the ways in which gender inequality is maintained and/or countered in the complex student accommodation institutional setting. In each of the research sites, students initially described how everyone was treated equally; through focus groups and vignettes, participants subsequently identified the unequal cultures which are so normalised that gender inequality is rendered invisible in their settings. The research found that these unequal cultures are embedded in the everyday activities and structures of the residential setting; these are not addressed by risk-mitigation strategies or individualised interventions and responses (such as Bystander Training). This presentation will conclude with recommendations to promote transformative change to enable women and non-binary students’ safety and equality.
Speaker
Brett Woods
Research Fellow
Victoria University
Cultures rendered gender inequality invisible in university student residential settings
Abstract Overview
University student residential settings provide rich opportunities for students as they transition to university life and independence. However, these settings remain places where women and non-binary students are unsafe.
The scale of sexual violence in universities and residential settings is well documented, with gendered violence remaining at the “disturbing levels” identified by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2017. The fact that women are no safer in student accommodation than a decade ago has been recently spotlighted by the recent Commonwealth Inquiry into sexual consent laws and Australian Universities Accord Final Report. In these recent reports, the student accommodation sector has been put on notice that further oversight and sector regulation to address the persistence of sexual violence is forthcoming.
Despite sector efforts, current institutional responses do not address the root causes of the problem. As gender inequality and other intersecting forms of oppression and discrimination provide the underlying social context for gendered violence, cultural change is needed to disrupt gendered norms, stereotypes and gendered power differentials.
This presentation will share findings from research with students and student leaders/Residential Advisors in three diverse university student residential settings in Melbourne, Australia, examining the ways in which gender inequality is maintained and/or countered in the complex student accommodation institutional setting. In each of the research sites, students initially described how everyone was treated equally; through focus groups and vignettes, participants subsequently identified the unequal cultures which are so normalised that gender inequality is rendered invisible in their settings. The research found that these unequal cultures are embedded in the everyday activities and structures of the residential setting; these are not addressed by risk-mitigation strategies or individualised interventions and responses (such as Bystander Training). This presentation will conclude with recommendations to promote transformative change to enable women and non-binary students’ safety and equality.
The scale of sexual violence in universities and residential settings is well documented, with gendered violence remaining at the “disturbing levels” identified by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2017. The fact that women are no safer in student accommodation than a decade ago has been recently spotlighted by the recent Commonwealth Inquiry into sexual consent laws and Australian Universities Accord Final Report. In these recent reports, the student accommodation sector has been put on notice that further oversight and sector regulation to address the persistence of sexual violence is forthcoming.
Despite sector efforts, current institutional responses do not address the root causes of the problem. As gender inequality and other intersecting forms of oppression and discrimination provide the underlying social context for gendered violence, cultural change is needed to disrupt gendered norms, stereotypes and gendered power differentials.
This presentation will share findings from research with students and student leaders/Residential Advisors in three diverse university student residential settings in Melbourne, Australia, examining the ways in which gender inequality is maintained and/or countered in the complex student accommodation institutional setting. In each of the research sites, students initially described how everyone was treated equally; through focus groups and vignettes, participants subsequently identified the unequal cultures which are so normalised that gender inequality is rendered invisible in their settings. The research found that these unequal cultures are embedded in the everyday activities and structures of the residential setting; these are not addressed by risk-mitigation strategies or individualised interventions and responses (such as Bystander Training). This presentation will conclude with recommendations to promote transformative change to enable women and non-binary students’ safety and equality.
Biography
Brett Louise Woods is a lawyer and Research Fellow in the Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities at Victoria University, Melbourne.
