In the wake of the indications that the National Association of Universities and Institutions of Higher Education (ANUIES) in Mexico has given to promote the existence of mechanisms to prevent, address and eradicate violence against women in the university environment, on November 15, 2019 the University Council of the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca (UABJO) approved the “Protocol for the prevention, attention and eradication of discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and violence against women”.  This document was the result of work between the Gender Equality Network (RIG, composed of academic and administrative staff), UABJO officials and a specialist lawyer. 

The protocols already approved in some public and autonomous universities are a novelty that responds to the incidence and visibility of different types of discrimination and violence against women in educational and academic environments in Mexico. However, the version approved by the University Council was a modification of the original proposal drafted by the RIG, whose current content may affect its operability and harm the integrity of those who decide to file complaints.

In the Autonomous University “Benito Juarez” of Oaxaca, cases of violence against women and of harassment and bullying have been occurring for several years. Before the protocol there were no specific measures to address this scourge. Cases were handled in a discretionary manner and everything was carried out through institutional channels. Likewise, student participation was and still is low in a university that registers high rates of violence against women and that, according to the National Observatory for Gender Equality in Higher Education Institutions (ONIGIES), has one of the lowest scores in gender equality.  This score comes from an evaluation of the following items: legislation, statistics and diagnostics with a gender perspective, family co-responsibility, inclusive and non-sexist language, gender awareness, gender research and studies, gender violence, and equal opportunities. The low score of the UABJO indicates the great challenge for this institution in the promotion of gender equality. This challenge is compounded by a complex institutional history and culture characterized by the presence of different power groups that fight for control of the university and inhibit the participation and organization of female students. 

Given that policies such as the implementation of the protocol are extremely new and scarce, and student participation is very low, it is necessary and urgent to promote actions in both lines. On the one hand, evaluating and making a proposal to improve the Protocol to address cases of violence and have real strategies to eradicate gender violence within the university space. On the other hand, preparing and engaging a group of students to generate proposals and apply them in order to achieve strategies for the reporting and prevention of gender violence in the university community.

The most benefited population will be the students from different schools and faculties who participate in the training, an estimated 25 women who are expected to replicate the model. However, in more general terms, it is expected that the benefit will be for the entire academic community by making public policies visible, publicizing the existence of the protocol and suggesting improvements for its application. The result of the training will also be fundamental to encourage other groups of women students to generate strategies to denounce and prevent gender violence in university spaces, while the result of the diagnosis will serve to pressure university authorities to take more effective measures with greater impact.

Three stages were proposed to carry out the project, one of search, analysis and evaluation of the measures or proposals to address, prevent or eradicate gender violence that UABJO has been developing since 2017. A second aimed at reviewing the responses to these policies by students and to analyze the ways they have generated to address gender violence. And a third one focused on training and strengthening a selected group of students interested in the topic of prevention. Due to the situation caused by the COVID pandemic and the slowness of the administrative procedures, the project began with several months of delay. We are currently in the first stage and we are about to start the second stage, which will have to be adapted to the new context, making the approach to the students online since the university is closed until further instructions from the Ministry of Public Education.

Authors:
1. Fabiola Bailón Vásquez – Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades, Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca
2. Charlynne Curiel – Instituto de Investigaciones Sociológicas, Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca
3. Holly Worthen – Instituto de Investigaciones Sociológicas, Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca