In the first person: For an UDA without harassment

The University of Azuay is a space for women's struggle and vindication. With a student body formed largely by women, and with valuable teachers in different faculties, the UDA is at the forefront of female inclusion on its campuses.

Nobody could speak of a macho university, retrograde or anachronistic in terms of gender. It is enough to walk through the design patio or enter any classroom to see that the campus is populated by capable, intelligent and dedicated women. This is the reality of a progressive, modern, equitable university.

However, not everything is rosy. There are still many things to do to achieve true gender equity; and, above all, to eliminate violence against women on university campuses. While there is no talk of physical violence, there are other forms of violence that are perceived in the different environments of the university. There is, above all, harassment, and this is the problem to be dealt with below.

Part of the conservative and ancient idiosyncrasy of Cuenca persists latent in the youth of the UDA. It is not strange to hear the inappropriate compliment of bad taste when some woman happens, or that among friends they are dedicated to qualify students for the physicist. These situations, so common in everyday life, are part of the evil that still needs to be removed from the university environment.

The UDA seeks and must become a space where we can all walk freely, without fear of critical scrutiny of students. The UDA must still work, through awareness, in the evil that causes harassment inside the classrooms, or in the playground, for student welfare.

It will not be easy work. We must consider that customs rooted in everyday life are difficult to change or eliminate. However, it is a job that must be done; and the problem must be attacked as soon as possible. Step by step, however small, the elimination of harassment within the UDA will be achieved.

You can start by simply reading these few lines and retaining them in memory. You can also stop the harassment the next time you see it. And why not? one can also wear orange in these coming days, as a symbol of support for the day of elimination of violence against women next November 25.

Let us all be a great orange mass fighting for change. Let's be that orange mass that changes certain defects of the university. The fight is established. From the classrooms and from teaching, women have laid the foundations to make a fair university. We lack certain details, in which we can all collaborate, to achieve those ideals that great women who have been present in the classrooms of the UDA, can be reached.

Let's be an orange mass, let's be an UDA without harassment.