Understanding the impact of gender-based violence on access to and participation in higher education

This research provides new knowledge about how gender-based violence (GBV) experienced across a lifetime impacts on students’ access to and participation in higher education. The global prevalence of GBV has led the United Nations (UN) to describe it as a “shadow pandemic” which has only intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic (UN Women, 2020b). On a national scale, GBV is a critical problem across society, representing a cost to the Australian economy estimated at $21.7 billion annually (PwC, 2015) and with significant negative effects on well-being (for example: Brown et al., 2015; Moulding, 2015). Existing scholarship has begun to uncover the extent and nature of GBV on Australian campuses. However, no previous research has examined the question of equity in higher education through the prism of students who have suffered GBV across their lifetimes. This project aims to fill that gap by examining the experience of entering and participating in higher education for students who are currently, or have previously, experienced GBV.