Abstract

The problematisation of a social phenomenon is a political process that both constructs the problem and, in doing so, suggests possible remedies and occludes others. Based on the first comprehensive study of 129 UK university policies to address gender-based violence (GBV), we analyse how the ‘problem’ of GBV is conceptualised in institutional policies. We explore three interconnected themes: the nature of the ‘problem’ that is constituted, analysing whether GBV is explicitly acknowledged and constructed narrowly or broadly; the place of gender and its intersection with other social relations of power in this problematisation; and the implicit ways in which GBV is constructed as an individual or a social problem. We also examine the implications of such constructions for imagining possible responses to GBV. In doing so, this article contributes to academic debates on the conceptualisation of GBV, and offers original insights into how such conceptualisations are materialised within institutional policy and regulatory frameworks.