Gender Based Violence in University Communities

Dr Sundari Anitha is Reader at the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Lincoln. She has researched and written on forced marriage, marriage migrants’ experiences of domestic violence, transnational abandonment of women, dowry-related violence, sex selective abortion, gender-based violence in university communities and South Asian women’s industrial militancy in the UK. She previously managed a Women’s Aid refuge and worked for Asha Projects, a specialist refuge for South Asian survivors of domestic violence and has been active in campaigns and policy-making to combat violence against women and girls since 1999.

Dr Ruth Lewis is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at Northumbria University. Her research focuses on feminist activism and gender-based violence (GBV). Recent work examines GBV in universities and activism about it, online abuse of feminists, feminism amongst women students, and women-only space as a political strategy. Earlier research examined legal responses to intimate partner violence, including perpetrators programmes, and a sociological examination of homicide. She has been involved in feminist activism and networks of various kinds, in academic and other communities.

Introduction: some reflections in these promising and challenging times ~ Sundari Anitha and Ruth Lewis;

SECTION I – The problem;

A continuum of acceptability: understanding young people’s views on gender based violence ~ Vanita Sundaram;

‘Lad culture’ and sexual violence against students ~ Alison Phipps;

SECTION 2 - Histories and politics of educational interventions against gender based violence in international contexts;

Sexual violence on US college campuses: history and challenges ~ Renate Klein;

Grounds for concern: an Australian perspective on responses to sexual assault and harassment in university settings ~ Andrea Durbach and Rosemary Grey;

Preventing gender based violence in UK universities: the policy context ~ Anni Donaldson, Melanie McCarry, Aimee McCullough;

SECTION 3 - Challenges and interventions in the UK;

Student feminist activism to challenge gender based violence ~ Ruth Lewis and Susan Marine;

Using the law to challenge gender based violence in university communities ~ Louise Whitfield;

The Intervention Initiative: theoretical underpinnings, development and implementation ~ Rachel A. Fenton and Helen L. Mott;

Understanding student responses to gender based violence on campus: negotiation, reinscription and resistance~ Ana Jordan, Sundari Anitha, Jill Jameson and Zowie Davy;

Tackling gender based violence in university communities: a practitioner perspective ~ Ellie Hutchinson;

Conclusion: setting the agenda for challenging gender based violence in universities ~ Ruth Lewis and Sundari Anitha.