Committees

‘Lad culture’, spiking and sexual misconduct: MPs investigate attitudes to women and girls in higher education - This evidence session has been cancelled

15 July 2022

This evidence session has been cancelled. The session will be rescheduled for after the summer recess.

MPs question academics and experts on the attitudes towards women and girls in higher educational settings as part of the Women and Equalities Committee's ongoing work into Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). In this session, a sub-Committee of MPs specifically investigating Attitudes towards women and girls in educational settings will meet in the second of three evidence sessions on the topic.

The sub-Committee will use the session to focus on the experiences of women and girls within universities and other higher education institutions, including staff-to-student sexual misconduct, 'lad culture' and spiking. The witnesses will also be questioned on the intersectional nature of violence, and how characteristics such as race, sexuality and disability may impact on students' experiences.  

The session will also explore the effectiveness of reporting and intervention policies, both at an individual university level and pilots for nationwide projects such as the Equally Safe in Higher Education Project in Scotland.

Witnesses

Wednesday 20 July 2022, Committee room 8, Palace of Westminster

 

At 2.30pm 

  • Professor Steve West CBE, President, Universities UK, 
  • Ammaarah Faisal, Student Ambassador and Head of Research for Higher Education, Our Streets Now, 
  • John Edmonds, co-author of Unsafe Spaces: Ending Sexual Abuse in Universities.

At 3.30pm 

  • Dr Rachel Fenton, Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter Law School, 
  • Dr Anni Donaldson, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Strathclyde,
  • Richie Benson, Universities Project Lead, Beyond Equality. 

These evidence sessions are part of a larger body of work exploring Preventing VAWG. To find out more about this inquiry, including the recently launched inquiries into misogyny in music and the impact of pornography on violence towards women and girls, visit the Committee's webpage.  

Read the transcript from the first of the Sub-Committee's evidence sessions, which focused on early years, primary, and secondary schools, here. 

Further Information

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