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F.5.b.iii.3.d Chile
Describes a new generation of student activists who are waging a struggle against harassment and sexual discrimination in universities through strikes, occupations and protests. When the article was published many university buildings were still being occupied. Polls showed public support and the government promised to meet some (but not all) of the students’ demands.
It explores the wave of student protests that paralysed schools and universities across Chile, demanding protection against sexual harassment and calling for gender equality.
PowerPoint presentation where Margot Cohen briefly addresses which factors can explain institutional responses to gender-based violence; how state institutions have responded to femicide in Chile up until 2017, and what are the implications of these responses for reducing levels of femicide.
Journalist Giulia Dessi reports on the series of students’ occupations (particularly by young women) that started in Southern Chile on 17 April 2018 and prompted a new wave of feminist civil disobedience. These demonstrations were responding to a case of sexual harassment by a university professor, Carlos Carmona, former president of the Constitutional Court. He was suspended for lack of integrity for only three months after eight months of protests. The students wanted to raise awareness of the systemic character of sexism and they campaigned for the university to put in place policies against sexual harassment. In addition, the students voiced a broader theoretical challenge to free-market capitalism. Following the protest Chilean President, Sebatsian Piñera, announced the ‘Women’s Agenda’ consisting of measures that address gender inequality in the areas of harassment, childcare and health. In November 2018, Chile signed a joint agreement with Peru at the Second Binational Cabinet that established increased sanctions for gender violence and domestic abuse.
Highlights the rapid rise of a new wave of feminism in Chile thanks to students’ demonstrations across the country aiming at tackling femicide and impunity.