IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jadmsc/v11y2021i4p138-d684636.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Organisational Characteristics That Facilitate Gender-Based Violence and Harassment in Higher Education?

Author

Listed:
  • Pat O’Connor

    (Department of Sociology, University of Limerick, V94 T9PX Limerick, Ireland
    Geary Institute, University College Dublin, Stillorgan Rd, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland)

  • Margaret Hodgins

    (Department of Health Promotion, National University of Ireland, H91 TX33 Galway, Ireland)

  • Dorian R. Woods

    (School of Management, Radoud University, 6525 XZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands)

  • Elisa Wallwaey

    (Business Unit Societal Change and Innovation, Frauhofer ISI, 76139 Karlsruhe, Germany)

  • Rachel Palmen

    (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3-UOC), 08860 Barcelona, Spain)

  • Marieke Van Den Brink

    (Gender and Diversity Studies, Radoud University, 6525 XZ Nijmegen, The Netherlands)

  • Evanthia Kalpazidou Schmidt

    (Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark)

Abstract

Gender-based violence and sexual harassment (GBVH) by and towards academics and students has been under-theorised at an organisational level in higher education institutions (HEIs). The methodology involves a critical review of the literature on GBVH and organizational responses to it, locating it in the context of an analysis of organizational power. The theoretical perspective involves a focus on power and workplace bullying. It identifies three power-related characteristics of academic environments which it is suggested facilitate GBVH: their male-dominant hierarchical character; their neoliberal managerialist ethos and gender/intersectional incompetent leadership which perpetuates male entitlement and toxic masculinities. These characteristics also inhibit tackling GBVH by depicting it as an individual problem, encouraging informal coping and militating against the prosecution of perpetrators. Initiating a discussion and action at organizational and state levels about GBVH as a power-related phenomenon, challenging the dominant neo-liberal ethos and the hierarchical character of HEIs, as well as reducing their male dominance and increasing the gender competence of those in positions of power are seen as initial steps in tackling the problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Pat O’Connor & Margaret Hodgins & Dorian R. Woods & Elisa Wallwaey & Rachel Palmen & Marieke Van Den Brink & Evanthia Kalpazidou Schmidt, 2021. "Organisational Characteristics That Facilitate Gender-Based Violence and Harassment in Higher Education?," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-13, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:11:y:2021:i:4:p:138-:d:684636
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/11/4/138/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/11/4/138/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Georgina Santos & Stéphanie Dang Van Phu, 2019. "Gender and Academic Rank in the UK," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-46, June.
    2. Kathryn B. H. Clancy & Lilia M. Cortina & Anna R. Kirkland, 2020. "Opinion: Use science to stop sexual harassment in higher education," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 117(37), pages 22614-22618, September.
    3. Laura Good & Rae Cooper, 2016. "‘But It's Your Job To Be Friendly’: Employees Coping With and Contesting Sexual Harassment from Customers in the Service Sector," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(5), pages 447-469, September.
    4. Mathias W. Nielsen, 2016. "Limits to meritocracy? Gender in academic recruitment and promotion processes," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 386-399.
    5. Jenny Rodriguez & Evangelina Holvino & Joyce K. Fletcher & Stella M. Nkomo & Jenny K. Rodriguez & Evangelina Holvino & Joyce K. Fletcher & Stella M. Nkomo, 2016. "The Theory and Praxis of Intersectionality in Work and Organisations: Where Do We Go From Here?," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 201-222, May.
    6. Allison J Ballard & Patricia Easteal, 2018. "The Secret Silent Spaces of Workplace Violence: Focus on Bullying (and Harassment)," Laws, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-17, October.
    7. Evanthia Kalpazidou Schmidt & Marina Cacace, 2019. "Setting up a dynamic framework to activate gender equality structural transformation in research organizations," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 159-159.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mooney, Shelagh, 2018. "Illuminating intersectionality for tourism researchers," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 175-176.
    2. Renata Guimarães Reynaldo & Kamila Pope & Juliano Borba & Stefan Sieber & Michelle Bonatti, 2023. "Women of the revolution and a politics of care: A gendered intersectional approach on an initiative to address socioenvironmental problems in a marginalized community in southern Brazil," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(6), pages 2130-2154, November.
    3. Nadia Singh & Areet Kaur, 2022. "The COVID‐19 pandemic: Narratives of informal women workers in Indian Punjab," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 388-407, March.
    4. Margaret Hodgins & Pat O’Connor & Lucy-Ann Buckley, 2022. "Institutional Change and Organisational Resistance to Gender Equality in Higher Education: An Irish Case Study," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-20, May.
    5. Rhea Ashley Hoskin & Lilith A. Whiley, 2023. "Femme‐toring: Leveraging critical femininities and femme theory to cultivate alternative approaches to mentoring," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1317-1333, July.
    6. Laurence Romani & Patrizia Zanoni & Lotte Holck, 2021. "Radicalizing diversity (research): Time to resume talking about class," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 8-23, January.
    7. Pat O’Connor & Gemma Irvine, 2020. "Multi-Level State Interventions and Gender Equality in Higher Education Institutions: The Irish Case," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, December.
    8. Dorian R. Woods & Yvonne Benschop & Marieke van den Brink, 2022. "What is intersectional equality? A definition and goal of equality for organizations," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 92-109, January.
    9. Marja Vehviläinen & Liekki Valaskivi, 2022. "Situated gender equality in regional research and innovation: Collaborative knowledge production [Policies as Gendering Practices: Re-Viewing Categorical Distinctions]," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 49(4), pages 561-572.
    10. Charles Barthold & Victor Krawczyk & Marco Berti & Vincenza Priola, 2022. "Intersectionality on screen. A coloniality perspective to understand popular culture representations of intersecting oppressions at work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 1890-1909, November.
    11. Juliano Morimoto, 2022. "Intersectionality of social and philosophical frameworks with technology: could ethical AI restore equality of opportunities in academia?," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.
    12. Paula Mählck & Hanna Li Kusterer & Henry Montgomery, 2020. "What professors do in peer review: Interrogating assessment practices in the recruitment of professors in Sweden," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1361-1377, November.
    13. Letki, Natalia & Biały, Grzegorz & Sankowski, Piotr & Walentek, Dawid, 2022. "Streamlining for excellence discriminates against women: A study of research productivity of 2.7 mln scientists in 45 countries," OSF Preprints yr8me, Center for Open Science.
    14. Sally Riad & Deborah Jones, 2023. "Approaching intersectionality through metonymy: Coloniality and recursion at work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 547-573, March.
    15. Gabriella Alberti & Francesco E. Iannuzzi, 2020. "Embodied intersectionality and the intersectional management of hotel labour: The everyday experiences of social differentiation in customer‐oriented work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1165-1180, November.
    16. Brad M. Barber & Wei Jiang & Adair Morse & Manju Puri & Heather Tookes & Ingrid M. Werner, 2021. "What Explains Differences in Finance Research Productivity during the Pandemic?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(4), pages 1655-1697, August.
    17. Daniela Bolzani & Francesca Crivellaro & Rosa Grimaldi, 2021. "Highly skilled, yet invisible. The potential of migrant women with a STEMM background in Italy between intersectional barriers and resources," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 2132-2157, November.
    18. Abramo, Giovanni & Aksnes, Dag W. & D’Angelo, Ciriaco Andrea, 2021. "Gender differences in research performance within and between countries: Italy vs Norway," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2).
    19. Mareike Adler & Sylvie Vincent-Höper & Claudia Vaupel & Sabine Gregersen & Anja Schablon & Albert Nienhaus, 2021. "Sexual Harassment by Patients, Clients, and Residents: Investigating Its Prevalence, Frequency and Associations with Impaired Well-Being among Social and Healthcare Workers in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-18, May.
    20. Victoria Opara & Ruth Sealy & Michelle K. Ryan, 2020. "The workplace experiences of BAME professional women: Understanding experiences at the intersection," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1192-1213, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:11:y:2021:i:4:p:138-:d:684636. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.