Gender Equality and Access to Justice in Higher Education Institutions: Pending Issues

Abstract

 Introduction. Violence against women in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) is becoming an urgent issue in social discussion and in research agendas in several countries. Specific questions, such as sexual harassment, the institutional responses to it, as well as victims’ and student groups’ voices have raised debates, mobilizations, and different types of actions during the last years. Objectives. This paper dissects and interprets the experience of victims of sexual harassment accessing justice measures in universities. It identifies the obstacles embedded in the protocols and the structures established to favor gender equality in several Mexican universities, and the implications of such hurdles. Methodology. The analyses are grounded in the authors’ experience and knowledge which is systematized and interrogated using insights from feminist theory and human rights. In so doing, it unveils practices and mechanisms that obstruct justice and reparation on behalf of the victims. Results and discussion. The analyses identify the link between the understandings of the eradication of gender violence in HEI and the obligations defined for the fulfilment of the right of women to lead lives free from violence and their right to education. The approach to the problem and the ways of addressing it entails a roadmap for universities which lead to the institutions’ reinforcement as duty-bearers and as freedom and equality spaces.