Sexual Harassment Deserves Special Consideration

¶ … Sexual Harassment Deserves Special Consideration in the Healthcare Industry

Sexual harassment in the healthcare industry deserves special consideration.

The scope of the problem is huge

Nearly half of all women physicians have experienced gender-based harassment (Frank, Brogan and Schiffman, 1998).

Forty-six percent of critical care nurses have been sexually harassed (Sandberg, McNiel, and Binder, 2002).

Forty percent of Canadian medical students and thirty-one to forty-six percent of U.S. medical students have reported sexual harassment (Cook, 1996; Mangus, Hawkins and Miller, 1998; Frank, Brogan and Schiffman 1998).

The healthcare industry has unique dynamics that foster an environment for sexual harassment.

Eighty-four percent of physicians are male and ninety-seven percent of nurses are female (Lahiri and Sedicum, 2000).

Doctors have far more economic status, prestige and power than nurses. (Childers-Hermann, 1993).

3.The isolated environments of perioperative intensive care units provides opportunity for sexual harassment.(Zuffoletto, 1992)

4. Although the number of female physicians earning medical degrees has increased, it is still lower than men and women physicians still remain concentrated in a few specialty areas. (Lahiri and Sedicum, 2000)

Abstract

The healthcare industry has the dubious distinction of being one of the top industries, if not the number one industry, where sexual harassment is the most prevalent. Across the board, nearly half of female nurses, physicians and students report that they have been harassed. A number of factors unique to the healthcare industry contribute to this problem including gender-based segregation, unequal gender representation, and the lower status, prestige and power of many female healthcare workers. Because of these industry-specific dynamics, the healthcare industry will have to do more than follow industry best practices. It will also need to take a more active role in attracting males into the nursing profession, attracting more women physicians in general and encouraging women physicians to select historically male specialties.

Introduction

The healthcare industry has the dubious distinction of being one of the top industries, if not the number one industry, where sexual harassment is the most prevalent. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has reported that claims in this industry tripled between 1990 and 1997, a time when greater awareness and prevention of sexual harassment was occurring in other industries. The EEOC also reports that 6.7% of the 114,800 claims made between 1992 and 1997 came from within the healthcare industry (defined as hospitals, physicians' offices, healthcare facilities, and nursing care facilities) (Fiedler and Hamby, 2000). Ninety percent of all sexual harassment complaints in the nursing profession are filed by women (Fiedler and Hamby, 2000). No other profession has reported a higher rate of harassment as nurses (Kaye, 1996). This paper will discuss the scope of the problem and the root cause of this problem, finding that sexual harassment is rampant and that there are a number of unique environmental dynamics in the healthcare industry that fosters this harassment. These include gender-based segregation, unequal gender representation, and the lower status, prestige and power of female healthcare workers which account for the majority of the problems. These unique issues indicate that prevention of sexual harassment in the healthcare industry deserves special consideration over and above the norms in other industries.

1.0 the Scope of the Sexual Harassment Problem

There are many studies that confirm the tremendous scope of the sexual harassment problem in the healthcare industry. Physicians and nurses alike encounter harassment. A large national survey revealed that 47.7% of all women physicians had experienced gender-based harassment, harassment from being a minority in a male environment (Frank, Brogan and Schiffman, 1998). The same survey showed that 36.9% of these women had experience more severe sexual harassment, harassment having a sexual or physical element. In a study of 188 critical care nurses, forty-six percent reported sexual harassment, including offensive sexual remarks, unwanted physical contact, unwanted verbal attention, requests for unwanted dates, sexual propositions and physical assault (Sandberg, McNiel and Binder, 2002). Sandbeg, McNiel and Binder discovered that an overwhelming majority of these incidents went unreported. Physicians accounted for the largest percentage of offenders, followed by co-workers, and supervisors.

The problem of sexual harassment is particularly acute for medical students. A study of Canadian medical residents found that forty percent of respondents, mostly women, reported experiencing sexual harassment in the form of offensive body language and receiving sexist teaching material and unwanted compliments (Cook, 1996). Another study found that more than forty-six percent of medical students reported some form of harassment and thirty-nine percent reported sexual harassment (Mangus, Hawkins and Miller, 1998). In the national survey by Frank, Brogan and Schiffman (1998), harassment was more common while in medical school (thirty-one percent for gender-based and twenty percent for sexual harassment) or during internship, residency, or fellowship (twenty-nine percent for gender-based and nineteen percent for sexual harassment) than in practice (twenty-five percent for gender-based and eleven percent for sexual harassment).

3.0 the Root Causes of the Sexual Harassment Problem

The high incidence of harassment of nurses is related to gender-based segregation in the healthcare industry with predominately female nurses and predominately male physicians. Eighty-four percent of physicians are male and ninety-seven percent of nurses are female (Lahiri and Sedicum, 2000). and, doctors have far more economic status, prestige and power than nurses which is relevant because harassment is typically a show of power and an effort to sustain dominance by treating the victim as inferior (Childers-Hermann, 1993). Further, the isolated environments of perioperative and intensive care unit settings also contribute to the higher incidence of harassment of nurses working in these areas (Zuffoletto, 1992). Because patient care areas are closed to visitors except during limited times, isolation from the public and sporadic traffic provides greater opportunities for harassment than working in other areas.

But, female doctors who have more status, prestige and power than nurses are also harassed. This brings up another issue healthcare, the threat of the loss of power. While the number of female physicians is low, they are making progress. The number of women earning medical degress has increased from 8.4% in 1969-1970 to 37.9% in 1993-1994 (Lahiri and Sedicum, 2000). but, female physicians still remain concentreated in four specialty areas, general practice, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology and psychiatry. "It is quite likely that the high levels of reported sexual and gender-based harassment of female medical students, residents, and physicians are related to the sudden presence of women in a traditionally white male dominated establishment." (Lahiri and Sedicum, 2000). Respondents more likely to report gender-based harassment were physicians who specialized in historically male specialties (Frank, Brogan and Schiffman, 1998).