Webinar on how to deal with gender-based violence: The potential role of Ombuds Offices in case handling

In its series of online events for members and non-members and as part of its annual working program, ENOHE is offering a special interactive (Q/A) webinar on gender-based violence and sexual harassment.

The issues are of increasing relevance in several working environments in higher education institutions (HEI’s). There are many different forms of explicit gender-based misbehaviors and/or violence and differences in how ombudspersons deal with them. They also arise from the fact that there are many different sexual orientations and identities, such as lesbian, gay, genderqueer, bisexual, demi sexual, transgender, etc. Since the student (and staff) populations of HEI’s are very diverse, so are the issues connected to the subject matter.

Main aspects of personal identities such as ethnicity, culture, age, education, and socio-economic status have additional impacts on the professional as well as the interpersonal relationships between university members per se. Since HEI’s are hierarchical institutions, with clear power structures and the potential for abuse of power, this can also happen within professional relationships, romantic relationships and through sexualized actions.

A big EU-funded project, the UniSAFE project, aims to produce better knowledge on gender-based violence and to translate this knowledge into operational tools which will be presented during the webinar. Ombuds offices are delving into the broad topic of sexual misconduct in various ways. In its 2021 annual report the ombudsperson of Luxembourg University differentiates between sexual harassment, sexual violence, and sexual extortion.

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator in England & Wales delivered a Westminster Briefing on proactive approaches to tackling sexism on campus. Other Ombuds offices have contributed input into policy development at their institutions.

The aim of this webinar is to learn about different topic-related cases from daily practice, then discuss and share effective means and methods for developing good practice-based handling of issues.

What about keeping as much privacy as possible?

Are any general policies in place and do they work in the individual case: and if not, why not?

What might be future obstacles and how can we find ways around them?

Participants in the webinar will hear and share ideas to think about when developing a policy, and challenges/limitations related to what can be achieved within a university context.

Chairs:
Josef Leidenfrost, ENOHE President, Welcome
Jean Grier, ENOHE Vice President, Chair and introduction

Moderator:
Michaela Antonin Malanikova, ENOHE Board Member, Olomouc Palacky University, Czech Republic

Our speakers:
Marcela Linkova, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
Brent Epperson, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Martine Conway, ENOHE Board Member, University of Ottawa, Canada
Jo Nuckley, Office of the Independent Adjudicator, Reading, U.K.
Alicia Sadiva Garduño, Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
Diego Garcia Ricci, Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico
Alicia Llamas, Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico

Fee
Participation for ENOHE members is free.
Participation for non-members costs € 50.

Sign up here:
As ENOHE member (if you have already paid your membership fee for 2023) you just fill out the registration form.

As non-member, first you transfer € 50 by PayPal.
(Please also add your full name and email address to the PayPal transfer.)
Then you fill out the registration form.

Zoom link will be sent out to participants at least one week before the webinar.