Student protestors standing outside McEwan Hall in Bristo Square holding a red banner with the word ‘Justice’. Photo credit: Megan Norcott.

CAMPAIGNING ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

It is our collective responsibility to educate ourselves on issues around gender-based violence, including consent, and to use our voices to advocate for positive change for survivors. 

Find out about our experience as changemakers here. 

Currently, campaigning work on gender-based violence is coordinated by the Tackling Gender-Based Violence Working Group. The membership of the group includes: 

• A selection of student society leaders from groups like The Feminist Society, Girl*Up, Sex? On Campus! and EdiUnicorn 

• The Students’ Association’s Women’s Officer 

• The Students’ Association’s Vice President Welfare 

• The Students’ Association’s Advice Place Manager 

• The University’s Director of Student Wellbeing 

• The University’s Equally Safe Manager 

• The University’s Head of Office for Student Conduct and Complaints 

The Working Group meets regularly to co-create initiatives that improve the experience of student survivors, addressing issues like wait-times, gaps in support, and structural issues, and embed a culture of consent on campus.  

For updates on the Working Group, you can contact the Women’s Campaign or the Students’ Association’s VP Welfare. 

Educational resources 

As members of the University of Edinburgh community, we have access to a wide range of resources which we can use to increase our knowledge and develop our skills. 

Specifically, we would encourage all students to complete the University’s Consent on Campus online module. This will build your understand consent, how to navigate boundaries, and how to support others. 

If you are a student leader, including a society or sports club office bearer, and Peer Learning and Support leader, or a student representative, you also have access to free, in-person Active Bystander training, delivered by external trainer Graham Goulden. The training focuses on identifying forms of sexual and gender-based violence, and empowering you to create a positive consent culture in the communities you are part of. Eligible students will be contacted about this training early in the new academic year, but more information can be found here. 

Student-led campaigning 

The Students’ Association Women’s Campaign frequently engages in work relating to sexual and gender-based violence – including organising protests, running educational campaigns, and lobbying the University to improve support – and is a great place to connect with other students who are passionate about making a change on gender inequality.  

The Women’s Campaign represents all women students – both trans and cis – as well as students for whom womanhood forms part of a more complex gender identity. You can follow the Liberation Campaigns on Instagram, email the Women’s Officer at women@eusa.ed.ac.uk, or go along to an event to find out more. 

Our other Liberation Campaigns, representing Black and Minority Ethnic (BME), disabled, LGBTQ+, trans and non-binary, and Widening Participation students, also regularly engage in intersectional work against sexual and gender-based violence. 

The Students’ Association supports a wide variety of student groups that focus on campaigning against sexual and gender-based violence, and creating spaces for those who’ve experienced violence to find support and community.   

We’d particularly encourage you to take a look at the groups below, but you can find a full list of our student groups here.   

• The Feminist Society are a group of Edinburgh University students interested in discussing feminist issues, empowering justice, and campaigning for the liberation of self-defining women and non-binary people. They host a range of events from workshops to speaker/panel discussions to social meet-ups. Find them on Instagram here. 

• Girl*Up Edinburgh is a part of the UN Foundation’s Girl Up Campaign. They organise different events to promote gender equality on campus, in Edinburgh and across international communities. They serve all women from all backgrounds but encourage anyone interested to get involved.  Find them on Instagram here. 

• The Noisy Movement is a student-led nonprofit social enterprise that aims to make noise and raise awareness for important causes that support vulnerable groups of our society. They are a group of students and friends based in Edinburgh who aim to raise awareness and funds for groups in society that need our support. They are currently running two activist campaigns: ThisIsNotConsent & Noise4Boys.  Find their website here, and find them on Instagram here. 

• Sex? On Campus! is an Edinburgh-based campaign focused on promoting greater awareness and education surrounding topics of sex, consent, and relationships on campus, at Edinburgh and nationally.  Find their Linktree here, find them on Instagram here, and find out more about their HEART fund for survivors here. 

• Sexpression Edinburgh is a branch of the national student-led charity Sexpression UK that seeks to promote the health and well-being of young people throughout the UK with specific focus on improving the sexual health and relationship education (SRE) of young people aged 11-18. Each year they organise and train student volunteers to teach inclusive SRE in schools in and around Edinburgh with the vision of empowering young people in their sexuality and sexual health. Additionally, they hold events around campus, such as STI testing, life drawings, sharing circles, Valentines Day parties or talks on anything sex, sexuality and health, with the purpose of creating a safer campus. Find their website here, and find them on Instagram here. 

National campaigning 

There are also several national groups campaigning on gender-based violence on University campuses, including: 

• The Russell Group Students’ Unions – a collective of students’ unions at Russell Group universities across the UK – are currently campaigning on gender-based violence, including conducting a survey on students’ experiences. You can find out more here. 

• EmilyTest is an organisation which campaigns on gender-based violence on campuses, as well as delivering training and encouraging institutions to sign on to their charter. You can find out more here.