At the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Herzegovina on December 10, 2022, the first regional and multidisciplinary research on gender-based violence in academic communities was promoted. The research was carried out as part of the UNIGEM project and presented in the scientific publication “Challenges of integrating gender equality in the university community: against gender-based violence” edited by professor Zilka Spahić Šiljak Ph.D., professor Jasna Kovačević Ph.D., and professor Jasmina Husanović Ph.D. The research was conducted at all partner institutions of the project that the TPO Foundation is implementing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro, with the aim of building an ethos of gender equality in higher education.
In the presence of students, teaching, and administrative staff, Martina Primorac Ph.D. sc. spoke about the publication, as well as Šahim Kahrimanović Ph.D., and Marko-Antonio Brkić M.Sc. sc.
UNIGEM research was conducted with the aim of scientifically establishing the issue of gender equality policy development in the academic community, i.e. to establish to what extent gender-based violence (GBV) is present among teachers, students, and administrative staff, what are their perceptions, attitudes, knowledge, whether there are mechanisms of prevention and protection from GBV, what is the organizational culture at universities, and how GBV affects the psychological health and careers of women and men.
It included 4,754 respondents, and 19 authors worked on the analysis of quantitative and qualitative research for publication. Through 12 chapters, they presented four thematic areas: 1. Gender, language, and gender stereotypes, 2. Gender-based violence and the influence of culture, religion, and tradition, 3. Inclusivity and intersectionality, policies of equality and solidarity for gender equality, and 4. Institutional environment and educational policy: competencies, responsibilities and institutional practices related to gender-based violence.
Among the important conclusions of the promotion at the University of Herzegovina, it was pointed out that the results of this research are of great help for the further development of action policies, as well as the improvement of internal procedures related to gender-based violence.
