Gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the NHS
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Abstract
Sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the UK workplace contribute markedly towards a significant public health problem, serious women’s health issue and mental health crisis (TUC 2019; Adams et al 2020; Cox et al 2023). Over 1 in 2 women in the UK have experienced workplace sexual harassment and almost half gender discrimination (TUC 2016; 2019). The result is reduced health outcomes, job satisfaction and employee retention (Gale et al. 2019; McLaughlin et al. 2017; Acker 2006; 2011; McDonald 2012). This project goes beyond current research on sexual harassment and gender discrimination to develop an intersectional sociological approach geared towards change and transformation.
Focusing on the NHS, this project combines interviews, vignette focus groups and social media story gathering to problematize existing assumptions about how sexual harassment and gender discrimination operate and identify solutions to this salient issue. The NHS is the biggest employer in the UK, with 77% of its workforce women and almost a quarter from minority ethnic backgrounds (Rolewicz and Palmer 2021; NHS Digital 2021; NHS Employers 2019). The scale and makeup of the NHS, as well as diversity of working environments within it, make it an ideal case study to investigate how sexual harassment and gender discrimination operate in the workplace and the consequences for women’s health. In addition, recent work has highlighted the prominence of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the NHS (Adams et al 2020; Cox et al 2023; Begeny et al 2023). The British Medical Association’s recent workforce survey found that 91% of women doctors in the UK have experienced sexism at work and respondents of all genders reported an issue of sexism in the medical profession (BMA 2017; BMA 2021). Organisations focused on the working conditions of healthcare professionals in the UK have evidenced the significant prevalence of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the sector and called for more action to be taken to tackle it (Unison 2021; MWF 2019; Cox et al 2023; Fessler 2018; Rimmer 2017). Whilst the NHS is the focus of this project, this work is applicable to many other sectors given the known prevalence of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the workplace and their impact on health.
Workplace sexual harassment is predominantly defined as ‘unwelcome and sexualised behaviour in the organisational context’ (Hennekam and Bennett 2017, 418), while gender discrimination includes all forms of discriminatory treatment based on gender. Systematic racism, sexism and classism produce unequal treatment in and experiences of work (Acker 2006; Minnotte and Legerski 2019; Healy et al. 2019; Tazzyman 2019). Intersectional research has illustrated that identity factors combine in complex ways to impact how people are treated and the discrimination they experience (Crenshaw 2013; McBride et al 2015). An intersectional approach to workforce is therefore vital, but is rarely applied in work on workplace sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
Taking a multi-dimensional approach (contextual, experiential and institutional), this project will identify how sexual harassment and gender discrimination are conceptualised in the NHS, how they have been/are dealt with, and explore women’s experiences and the health consequences, through an intersectional lens. This will enable an assessment of how sexual harassment and gender discrimination could be better dealt with at an organisational and national level to enable a nuanced approach sensitive to combinations of race, gender, place, status and class.
Focusing on the NHS, this project combines interviews, vignette focus groups and social media story gathering to problematize existing assumptions about how sexual harassment and gender discrimination operate and identify solutions to this salient issue. The NHS is the biggest employer in the UK, with 77% of its workforce women and almost a quarter from minority ethnic backgrounds (Rolewicz and Palmer 2021; NHS Digital 2021; NHS Employers 2019). The scale and makeup of the NHS, as well as diversity of working environments within it, make it an ideal case study to investigate how sexual harassment and gender discrimination operate in the workplace and the consequences for women’s health. In addition, recent work has highlighted the prominence of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the NHS (Adams et al 2020; Cox et al 2023; Begeny et al 2023). The British Medical Association’s recent workforce survey found that 91% of women doctors in the UK have experienced sexism at work and respondents of all genders reported an issue of sexism in the medical profession (BMA 2017; BMA 2021). Organisations focused on the working conditions of healthcare professionals in the UK have evidenced the significant prevalence of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the sector and called for more action to be taken to tackle it (Unison 2021; MWF 2019; Cox et al 2023; Fessler 2018; Rimmer 2017). Whilst the NHS is the focus of this project, this work is applicable to many other sectors given the known prevalence of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in the workplace and their impact on health.
Workplace sexual harassment is predominantly defined as ‘unwelcome and sexualised behaviour in the organisational context’ (Hennekam and Bennett 2017, 418), while gender discrimination includes all forms of discriminatory treatment based on gender. Systematic racism, sexism and classism produce unequal treatment in and experiences of work (Acker 2006; Minnotte and Legerski 2019; Healy et al. 2019; Tazzyman 2019). Intersectional research has illustrated that identity factors combine in complex ways to impact how people are treated and the discrimination they experience (Crenshaw 2013; McBride et al 2015). An intersectional approach to workforce is therefore vital, but is rarely applied in work on workplace sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
Taking a multi-dimensional approach (contextual, experiential and institutional), this project will identify how sexual harassment and gender discrimination are conceptualised in the NHS, how they have been/are dealt with, and explore women’s experiences and the health consequences, through an intersectional lens. This will enable an assessment of how sexual harassment and gender discrimination could be better dealt with at an organisational and national level to enable a nuanced approach sensitive to combinations of race, gender, place, status and class.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Abigail Tazzyman (Principal Investigator) |