Gender violence in higher education institutions

Abstract

This article analyses gender violence in universities based on the perspective of undergradu-ate students and research results in a public institution of regional scope in Colombia, in dialogue with recent research in Latin America. The phenomenon is understood from an analysis model that reconstructs the progressive escalation of acts of violence from its mild-est forms to its most extreme expressions. It is concluded that, over time, acts of gender-based violence are made invisible by various mechanisms of silencing and concealment that prevent victims from clearly identifying the violence and the way to deal with the situation. Therefore, certain individuals exercise harassment and sexual violence for years, with the complicity of many of those who witness or have knowledge of such actions from the insti-tutions and do not act. The collective complaint begins to break this cycle.