Female doctors still facing harassment despite awareness

There are more women physicians in the U.S. in 2016 than ever before, and even while the myriad of noble accomplishments by female doctors would make Elizabeth Blackwell proud, many of these women still face harassment by both patients and fellow doctors.

When asked to share harassment stories, female physicians, unfortunately, had plenty. Here are a few examples, although names were removed to protect the privacy of the doctors.

 

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One family practitioner said the father of a young patient spit on her because he didn’t think she knew what she was talking about because she was a woman. A doctor working in a Texas hospital says she constantly deals with patients who address her in sexist and misogynist ways, and a young doctor at a hospital in Pennsylvania says older male doctors often call her things like “honey” and “sweetheart.”

Reshma Jagsi, MD, D.Phil, recently conducted a study among high-achieving physician-scientists and discovered nearly a third of women reported experiencing sexual harassment in their workplace.

“This is a sobering reminder that our society has a long way to go before we achieve gender equity,” Jagsi,associate professor and deputy chair of radiation oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School, said in the study.

 

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While this study surveyed those in academic medicine, according to the experts, this way of thinking is prevalent in practice-based medicine as well.

Emily Martin, the National Women’s Law Center’s vice president for workplace justice and an expert on sexual harassment, notes the study is on par with what’s happening in industries around the world, including physicians working in hospitals, in private practice and specialists.

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