Gender-based violence and arbitrary discrimination in a private Chilean university: An initial exploration

The challenges faced by Chilean universities in terms of the prevention of gender violence and arbitrary discrimination reveal the need to implement effective policies that safeguard the fundamental rights of their members. This paper analyzes the discourses provided by members of a Chilean Private University on gender violence. Methodologically, it uses a mixed approach, including the design and submission of a semi-structured online survey. The instrument was answered by 635 people, equivalent to 9.35% of the sample universe. To interpret the data, descriptive statistical analysis and content analysis were used, using SPSS Statistics 23.0 and Atlas Ti 6.2. The results reveal that women show a higher degree of participation (76.5%) than men (23.5%), since they report mostly episodes of psychological violence (18%) and gender violence (6%). Likewise, 78% of the participants stated that they were not fully aware of the Policy for Reporting Cases of Sexual Harassment, Workplace Harassment and Arbitrary Discrimination. In addition, the participants expressed interest in strengthening the areas of awareness and prevention (33%) as well as education and training (26%), transversally integrating the gender perspective in the institutional training processes. Finally, university androcentrism and the pending gender perspective emerge as categories that require a deep and qualitatively complex analysis at the local university level, which would favour the construction of a non-sexist and inclusive education for all.