Full Description
Gender-Based Harm in Higher Education examines the pervasive issue of gender-based violence within South African universities, offering critical insights into institutional responses, policy frameworks, and student activism. This collection brings together leading scholars to analyse how colonial legacies, neoliberal governance, and systemic inequalities intersect to perpetuate harm in academic spaces as well as approaches to addressing sexual harassment, online violence, and procedural justice failures, while centring decolonial and intersectional perspectives.
The volume provides essential analysis for understanding how universities can move beyond compliance-driven responses toward transformative change. With case studies from Eastern Cape institutions and examination of landmark student protests, this book offers practical guidance for developing meaningful prevention strategies and survivor-centred support systems. Essential reading for anyone committed to creating safer, more equitable higher education environments. The chapters in this book were previously published as a special issue in South African Journal on Human Rights.
Contents
Introduction 1. Placing protest, protesting place: Gendered forms of violence in institutions of higher education in South Africa 2. The quiet revolution: Decolonial struggles and intersectional futures 3. Dyantyi and Goliath: Institutional responses to student protests against gender-based violence and violation of procedural rights 4. Queering citizenship in policy language: Reflections on sexual harassment policies in Eastern Cape universities 5. Sexual offence complainant rights and independent legal representation in a university student disciplinary tribunal 6. Towards innovative and meaningful responses to online gender-based violence in higher education 7. #GenderBasedViolenceMatters: Colonisation, contract and co-optation in the university under a neo-liberal regime
