One in four nurses in Alicante suffers groping

One in four nurses (24%) has experienced unwanted physical contact, including a hand on the waist, hugs, and even touching of the buttocks and other sensitive and intimate areas. Fourteen percent have had unwanted advances for dating or sexual activity from patients, family members, superiors, or colleagues, even though they tried to stop them. In October and November, the Satse Nursing Union did a poll of professionals in the Valencian Community, which includes the province of Alicante. These are the results.

This activity is part of this union’s plan to raise awareness and share information about the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The slogan for this day is “Yes, it happens…It’s harassment.” The poll also includes those who work in physiotherapy.

Roces

The report’s authors put up a list of stories that include clear indications of sexual harassment against healthcare personnel, such as instances of indecent approaches with erections. “A superior approached me from behind, pushing his penis against my buttock, disguising it as a joke,” “He came very close from behind, pretending to be silly, but he had an erection”; and “uncomfortable advances, comments about sexual areas, rubbing, insinuations” are other examples.

But that’s not all. Several women say that “a higher-up tried to kiss me and have sex with me while I was on duty.” I never worked another shift so I wouldn’t have to see him again. Or, “A coworker harassed female coworkers and students for years by sending them sexual messages and pictures.” “He would leave me for last so he could be alone with me in his office and make advances,” and “a patient’s husband followed me for days after work to invite me to dinner” are two more examples of bad behaviour.

Bosses

More information about bosses and coworkers. “While explaining different nursing techniques to me, there were touches and rubbings on different parts of my body that I don’t see as necessary for the explanation”; “a tutor during my hospital internship touched me, looked at me and made obscene advances”; “he unexpectedly jumped into a lift to try to kiss me ” ; or “I have experienced harassment from a superior: hand on waist, being held against a door and attempted kiss, coercion and threats if I said anything.”

Some male nurses say they have seen their female coworkers being treated unfairly and admit to thinking, “I’ve been treated with more respect because I’m a man.” They are not immune; they also face harassment: “A superior, without any shame, entered the men’s locker room unannounced, making offensive, insulting, and humiliating comments,” explain those impacted.

Nurses report cases of harassment by patients, such as “watching sexual content while I was giving him medication,” “patients but more family members or companions commenting on me or my colleagues and trying, and sometimes succeeding, in groping, touching, or rubbing against me,” or “asking the patient if he needs anything and he would answer that he needs a kiss out of the blue and with a rude attitude.”

More than half of the professionals surveyed have experienced inappropriate sexual remarks and jokes, while thirty percent have faced intentional encroachments on their personal space.

Jokes about sex

The survey also shows other things: more than half of the professionals who were asked have heard rude sexual comments or jokes, and three out of ten have had someone invade their personal space on purpose or make them feel small.

Other data show that 37% say they have been treated differently because of their gender, 36% say they have heard sexual stories or jokes that made them uncomfortable, 17% say they have received suggestive and inappropriate sexual looks, and almost 22% of those surveyed say they have had their attention sexually solicited (whistles, offensive catcalls, etc.).

The study also finds that almost half of the people who answered said they had been in these circumstances two to five times, and 25% said they had been in them more than ten times during their working life. In the last three years, 70% of the occurrences have happened.

Most people don’t report it because they don’t trust the process

More than 85% of the time, nurses don’t tell their boss about the problem or submit a complaint. The major reasons are because people don’t know what rights they have or don’t believe that the process will work. 60% of the nurses and physiotherapists who were asked don’t know of any guidelines for dealing with sexual harassment, and only 22% say they have gotten knowledge or training on the subject.

Satse says that this reality leads to “violent and abusive behaviours” that hurt women and mostly female professional organisations. “People have always thought of care professions as sexual and stereotyped, and being close to others and thinking we are at their service makes this worse.”

Make people more aware

These troubling numbers show that we need to “keep raising awareness among professionals, public administrations, private companies, and all of society to end violence in the workplace.”

The Nursing Union wants to make sure that working conditions are safe from sexual harassment by following equality policies and protocols that aim to stop it, find it early, report it, and help and advise victims.

Other demands include that these kinds of harassment be included in workplace risk assessments as a psychosocial risk, that victims be fully protected from retaliation and have access to psychological support and legal advice if their labour rights have been violated, and that all necessary steps be taken to restore their mental and physical health.