Abstract
BackgroundGender discrimination (GD) and sexual harassment (SH) occur at all academic institutions worldwide. Medical students report high prevalence of GD and SH, which may negatively affect their education and health. There are indications that policies and reforms on reducing GD/SH are insufficient. Swedish medical students’ experiences of GD/SH are monitored by course-evaluations and bi-annual student union evaluations; however, the response rate is usually low. The aim of this study was to compare the exposure to and context of self-reported GD/SH over an 11-year period amongst medical students at a Swedish university.MethodsIn 2002, a questionnaire (n = 622) was mailed to medical students’ home addresses. It was repeated in 2013 and then distributed during mandatory lectures (n = 856). The questions used a behavioristic approach and asked about specific GH/SH experiences. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. The changes in prevalence over time were calculated by sampling weights in order to obtain comparable estimates, representative of both cohorts.ResultsThe response frequency was 55% (62% women) in 2002 and 81% (59% women) in 2013. The prevalence of GD tended to decrease for male and clinical students in comparison to female and pre-clinical peers. However, the prevalence of SH increased for female compared to male students. The ratio of SH for female pre-clinical students doubled in many instances; most often, the mistreatment occurred in the clinic. Medical doctors were indicated as perpetrators up to five times more often by all students in 2013.ConclusionOur results show a disproportional change in exposure to GD/SH between female and male medical students, resulting in a widening of the gender gap regarding prevalence of GD and SH between 2002 and 2013. In particular, personal experiences of SH increased for both sexes. It is proof that institutional efforts to fight mistreatment might be ineffective.
Highlights
Gender discrimination (GD) and sexual harassment (SH) occur at all academic institutions worldwide
A recent systematic review on international studies, the majority conducted in the United States, Canada, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, showed that 49–68% of all medical students have experienced at least one type of GD or SH during medical school and that female students are more affected than their male peers [2]
The study shows that the prevalence of GD/SH in many cases decreased in male students and increased, among female pre-clinical students, widening the gender gap for prevalence of GD/SH
Summary
Gender discrimination (GD) and sexual harassment (SH) occur at all academic institutions worldwide. Medical students report high prevalence of GD and SH, which may negatively affect their education and health. Gender discrimination (GD), including gender harassment, and sexual harassment (SH), occur at academic institutions worldwide [1, 2]. Students’ dependence on supervisors is a known risk-factor for GD and SH and facilitates potential exposure to mistreatment at medical schools. These factors affect both genders but in particular women [3,4,5]. One proposed explanation for this is that the nature of clinical practice with, for example, examination of undressed bodies of both patients and students, contributes to the breakdown of social and sexual barriers [5, 11, 12]
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