In a recent research study done at the University of Michigan Medical School, it was found that at least 30% of all female doctors have suffered from outright sexual harassment compared with just 4% of male doctors. These weren’t the only sobering discoveries made by Dr. Reshma Jagsi who is an associate professor and the deputy chair of the radiation oncology department at the University of Michigan Medical School. Her findings were recently published in JAMA.
“I don’t want to sound naive,” she said, “but I have to say that I did not expect that three out of ten women would report harassment in their career as opposed to only 4% of men. It’s a sobering statistic.”
This doesn’t account or the number of female doctors who haven’t reported or admitted to sexual harassment. The figures could, indeed, be much higher. This was part of a study that was also looking at why women doctors, despite being nearly half the student body at medical schools, never make it to leadership, research or professor roles. She looked at previous data from a 2006-2009 study done by the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Jagsi found that nearly 80% of the women interviewed in that study had been aware of, and exposed to, sexual harassment. Of the 80%, nearly 40% of them said they had suffered under more extreme forms of harassment and it is believed that these harassment strategies have had a direct affect on the career advancement, as well as the self esteem, of women doctors getting into research, leadership and academia.
Dr. Jagsi has been concerned with the diversity in the medical profession in that females are not getting into the above mentioned arenas and that, in Jagi’s estimation, has been hurting the medical profession for many years. She believes it’s important for all manner of voices and concerns to be heard so that conversation can be stimulated and advancements can be better made in a collaborative effort. Though sexual harassment seems slightly less than it use to, it is still a pervasive force and a hindrance to the leadership roles for women in academic medicine and research.
“Sometimes I get push-back as to why this matters”, said Jagsi. “But I think it’s important to document experiences to show that they’re not rare.”
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