Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

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AKC: Arbeitskreis Chancengleichheit

AKC 1: AKC

AKC 1.3: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2026, 12:15–12:45, KH 01.011

From Taboo to Transformation: Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Academia — •Anja Wiede — TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Gender-based violence in academia is not a side issue but part of how power and inequality are reproduced within universities. According to recent UniSAFE findings, around 62% of respondents have encountered at least one form of such violence since joining their institution. Psychological violence and sexual harassment are particularly common, while reporting remains rare.

This lecture treats sexualised discrimination and violence not as individual misbehaviour or desire, but as a way power is exercised through everyday academic relations. It examines how universities with their status hierarchies, insecure employment paths, male-centred norms, and self-image as progressive spaces, create conditions in which these forms of harm are downplayed, rendered invisible, or dealt with inadequately. These structural features interact with individual tendencies of perpetrators, making violence both possible and easy to hide.

The lecture explores why such violence persists despite equality and diversity rhetoric and how gender-based violence operates as a form of power abuse in academic systems. Participants will gain concrete insights into the structural and cultural conditions that enable these dynamics, and they will be invited to reflect on their own institutional contexts. The session offers practical ideas for creating safer academic environments from strengthening accountability and reporting structures to developing everyday practices that confront power imbalances.

Keywords: Gender-based violence; Power abuse; Inequality