Harassment and its impact on higher education

Abstract

Sexual harassment is a latent reality that arises in the various contexts where the human beings develop, being an expression of violence that reveals inequality and the exercise of power. Their presence within higher education institutions encourages them to seek reasons and explanations for this problem. The objective was to detect, address and report these types of practices that physically and emotionally harm the victim. The methodology used in the research
was a qualitative-quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study, through the application of an online survey to a sample of 2,166 students from the different faculties of the university. The results revealed that women experience sexual harassment to a greater extent than men, gender
inequality being unquestionable. Statistically speaking, of the 67.91% that corresponds to women, 15.74% state that they have suffered some type of sexual harassment during their stay on the university campus; While the male population which represents 32.04%, only 3.60% have been victims of this problem, and 0.05% corresponding to students who identified as intersex state that if they have suffered sexual harassment during their college life. Therefore, it is essential that the National University of Loja execute training campaigns for the entire university community on
the issue of sexual harassment, with a special focus on the prevention and eradication of these harmful practices.