NEWS: Medics take stand against sexism

As reported by BMA, the BMA warns that failing to tackle sexism in medicine not only disappoints doctors but also undermines the healthcare system, posing a risk to patient well-being, as calls grow to address pervasive gender-based discrimination within the profession

The fight to end gender-based discrimination and sexual misconduct within the medical profession must be regarded as the responsibility of all doctors, an event at BMA House heard.

The meeting, which was chaired by deputy chair of BMA council Emma Runswick, sought to reflect upon the impact of the BMA’s Ending Sexism in Medicine pledge.

The pledge, which was launched almost one year ago, outlines 10 goals which include ending sexual harassment, promoting gender diversity in medicine and supporting women’s health in the workplace.

With 66 healthcare organisations having so far signed-up to the pledge, Dr Runswick stressed the importance of increasing this number in order to further ‘build consensus around ideas and actions that we can take to end sexism in medicine.’

Sexual assault

Those speaking at the event included consultant colorectal surgeon and chair of the Women in Surgery Forum Tamzin Cuming, who also helped co-found the working party on sexual misconduct in surgery.

A survey published last year by the working group revealed that a third of female surgical staff responding to the study had been sexually assaulted by colleagues in the workplace.

Ms Cuming said that while the BMA’s pledge and the working party’s report had helped to widen the conversation on tackling sexism in medicine, far more still needed to be done if further progress was to be made and called for better data collection on reports of sexual misconduct and recourse to independent investigations of complaints.

She said: ‘We need to get over health care organisations’ problem with admitting [sexism and sexual misconduct] is happening, we now know that this is happening everywhere. If you don’t think it’s happening in your organisation, it means you just haven’t looked hard enough.

‘Often when the alleged perpetrator is a senior person with power in the organisation, and the person reporting is powerless, like a junior doctor or medical students, it is easy for them [employers] to close it down.

‘There needs to be a way of getting this to an external independent investigator, possibly using anonymous reporting to try and build up an image of what is happening in various areas within healthcare organisations.’