creating a better learning environment

Making the Grade:
What Colleges and Universities Can Do
To Help Women Living with the Threat of Violence

All you do these days is study. What about me and the kids? School doesn't make you smart, you know. It's a waste of time. I don't know why you're not staying home, looking after the kids and taking care of the house. You know I need you at home. What's the matter? Don't I make enough? Maybe you think I'm not good enough for you any more? Think you'll find someone better at college?

Joe's tirades are becoming more and more frequent. On "good" nights, Susan can get to her assignments after Joe has fallen asleep. On other nights, she and her children must leave home, looking for shelter at a friend's place. If she's "lucky," she'll be able to get out before he starts swinging his fists.

Access to training and education programs alone will not improve the quality of women's lives unless the barriers uniquely encountered by women are identified and removed. For many women like Susan, the most significant obstacle is living with a violent, abusive man. Absences caused by injuries, competing demands on her time and energy and sleep deprivation are examples of how violence and the threat of violence can and does interfere with a woman's ability to achieve her academic goals. As a result of poor attendance and uneven performance, these women may be seen as unmotivated or unable to fulfill program requirements, and labelled as "poor students." They may be failed or asked to withdraw from classes; they may lose their funding.

Education can be a way to break the cycle of despair that envelops a woman living with a violent man. School breaks the isolation which he imposes upon her. It also is an opportunity to get meaningful support and realistic feedback to counter the hurtful and demeaning treatment she receives at home. School may provide opportunities for success which challenge her partner's view of her as "incompetent," or "stupid" or "good-for-nothing." Job opportunities which come from her education may break her partner's financial stranglehold.

Achieving educational goals may be a significant step for women like Susan in creating a life for themselves and their children which is free from violence and abuse. Colleges and universities can make a difference if their policies and procedures take the realities of women's lives into account. To do so, most educational institutions need to take a hard look at their present policies and re-think those which disadvantage women.