Dr Becky Cox and a fellow medic Dr. Chelcie Jewitt have produced a report ‘Surviving in Scrubs’ in which they describe the testimonies of 200 professional women working in the medical sector who have experienced sexism and/or misogyny in their daily work environment in the NHS. Becky is a GP working in gynaecology, and an academic with an interest in violence against women, who has had direct experience of sexual harassment and assault at work and is a stalwart campaigner to end the culture of misogyny in the healthcare profession. Chelcie comes at this from a similar perspective having witnessed multiple incidences of sexism and misogyny which prompted her to initiate the ‘Sexism in Medicine’ project which was published with the BMA in August 2021. This latest campaign is published in their website www.survivinginscrubs.co.uk and demonstrates the lack of change since 2021 in male attitudes towards women in the medical profession.
The report ‘Surviving in Scrubs’ was carried out with diligence and statistical rigor such that its findings and conclusions can leave no one in doubt about its veracity.
In its analysis hundreds anonymous testimonies were detailed catalogues of sexual harassment and assault occurring to themselves or colleagues within the healthcare workforce.
In its analysis hundreds anonymous testimonies were detailed catalogues of sexual harassment and assault occurring to themselves or colleagues within the healthcare workforce.
This list is not conclusive but is continually being extended by updates as new and contemporary incidents are reported. The stories of female staff working in the NHS describe the significant power imbalance between senior male staff members and the women working alongside them in the workplace. Female staff witness that there is a normalized culture of sexism, entitlement and devaluation of women colleagues in the NHS. More concerning is that the perpetrators of sexual violence against women act within a culture of tolerance in which victims of this abuse of power are powerless to complain for fear of damaging their career prospects. In addition, women reported that in the closed and private settings of clinical interactions men advantageously took advantage of this location to sexually assault women without recourse for them to react and complain without creating ’a scene’. To do so would require a seemingly absurd explanation, which was likely not to be believed anyway.
The result of this sexual harassment and intimidation is that patient care is suffering. Women medics and other care staff are distracted, undermined in their decision making, clinical judgment and requests are being ignored, and referrals refused on the say so of male superiors. Who were reporting these incidents of male misogyny? Well 66.3% were female doctors, of whom 88.8% identified themselves as junior doctors, 8.38% were nurses and 11.9% were healthcare workers.
Other studies carried out previously reinforce the need for the current Surviving in Scrubs campaign. As stated above the BMA did their own research in 2021. It documented the findings of a survey in which 2,500 UK NHS doctors were interviewed up to two years prior to the publication. This is a summary of its findings: 91% of female doctor respondents had experienced some form of sexism, while 56% had experienced unwanted verbal contact and 31% unwanted physical contact. Other reports have found that almost 33% of female doctors and 60% of nurses had been sexually assaulted at work.
These startling numbers and weight of evidence show that there is a huge issue facing the female NHS workforce which is detrimental to the functioning of the organisation because the female staff are suffering guilt, shame, a loss of their professional identity, mental health issues and inevitably a wish to leave the profession.
So, what is to be done to correct this appalling situation? First, there should be an education program within the NHS for all staff to attend to emphasise the problem and to establish a proper administrative system for the reporting and investigation of any accusations of abuse. Second, there should be more research carried out about this subject; how cultural change might be brought about with interventions at any stage to take corrective actions. Then thirdly, there should be a support system established so individuals who have been subjected to sexual abuse or misogyny can receive proper professional counselling.
The Surviving in Scrubs campaign should be only the beginning of a national campaign to irradicate misogyny and sexual abuse in the health care sector. Perhaps we require an equivalent to the #MeToo movement for female staff in the NHS.
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