Situations involving sexual harassment, sexual aggression, discrimination, sexist or homophobic behaviour also exist in higher education and research establishments. Although often associated with the workplace, the existence of those issues are still relatively little-known in the higher education sector and mostly exposed through the media.
The Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation is supporting a number of initiatives and measures
The Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation is supporting a number of initiatives and measures already implemented by 20+ universities across France aimed at preventing discrimination, sexual harassment and/or sexist and sexual violence and supporting anyone victim of such crimes.
Frédérique Vidal, The Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation in the French Government overseeing university-level education and research underlined in 2017 the importance she attaches to the problem of gender-based and sexual violence against women. She firmly enjoined institutional leaders to refuse any tolerance or weakness in this respect. During the colloquium, she officially announced the creation of a listening unit in each university by the start of the 2018 academic year.
A number of characteristics associated with the world of higher education and graduate schools can contribute to discriminations:
- Community life, which may create a form of social pressure, induction weekends, student evenings, flat share, housing in halls of residence or university accommodation, etc.
- Hierarchical relationships which may evolve into power-based or “dependency” relationships: thesis supervisors and doctoral candidates, teachers and students relationships, employer-employee, association boards and applicants, etc.
In order to prevent and protect the health and safety of the KEDGE community, the school has put into place steps for reporting and addressing these types of situations. If you have been sexually harassed, if you have experienced sexual, sexist or homophobic violence or if you know that a classmate or colleague has experienced this type of situation, you can request a meeting with members of the KEDGE Reporting Unit by writing to: signalement@kedgebs.com
In accordance with its rules and regulations, KEDGE will envisage disciplinary procedures and possibly criminal proceedings in the event of non-compliance with its diversity-related principles.
The KEDGE community must work together on a daily basis to prevent gender-based and sexual violence and to fight against all types of discrimination.
All members of the community are expected to display ethical and responsible behaviour, including with regard to diversity, and must intervene / act if they witness or are aware of a deviant situation or one which violates our commitments..
Indeed, without support and concrete assistance, the healing process can be painful and long-lasting from:
- A psychological point of view - stress, anxiety, school phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, addiction, etc.
- An educational and professional point of view- educational failure, dropping out, abandoned courses, etc.