As someone who makes your living in a California hospital, medical office or similar health care setting, you may have seen for yourself just how common sexual harassment can be in your industry. You may, too, have been a victim of this type of behavior yourself, whether in medical school or at some point on the job. At Jay S. Rothman & Associates, we understand that many health care settings are hotbeds for harassing behavior, and we have helped many victims of this type of treatment gain the courage to speak out against their aggressors.
Per the Harvard Business Review, sexual harassment is a pervasive issue not only in health care work settings, but also in medical school classrooms. The problem has become so widespread, in fact, that as many as 50 percent of female medical students reported being victims of sexual harassment. Another 30 to 70 percent of female health care workers, meanwhile, said they, too, suffered such treatment at some point or another.
So, what is it about hospitals, doctor’s offices and other health care settings that make workers in them especially vulnerable to harassment? Part of the problem is likely due to the fact that men tend to hold positions of power in many health care settings, with male-dominated work environments typically experiencing higher incidences of sexual harassment.
The hierarchical structure that exists in many such work environments is another likely contributor to the high number of reports of sexual harassment coming from the medical field. So, too, is the fact that many such health care settings work hard to avoid anything that could potentially lead to litigation, meaning they may make it difficult for employees to report instances of sexual harassment. You can find more about this topic on our webpage.
