One in four female doctors in IMO survey have been sexually harassed at work

Madeleine Ní Dhálaigh said gender inequality has a profoundly negative effect on the health system. 'How can we expect female doctors to work in our health system if they are being treated this way,' Dr Ní Dhálaigh asked the IMO conference. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins

Almost one in four female doctors responding to a gender equality survey by the Irish Medical Organisation has been sexually harassed at work, and close to 60% of them have been bullied.

The survey also found 13.8% of male doctors have been sexually harassed at work, and a conference held in Dublin on Saturday called for urgent changes in how health sites are run.

Over half of female doctors have experienced gender-based harassment, and 12.4% of male doctors. Responsibility for childcare remains markedly different with 46.5% of female doctors mainly or fully responsible compared to 6.3% of male doctors.

More female doctors than male are likely go part-time (35.8%) or take unpaid leave (25.5%) to care for children compared to 7.2% of male doctors going part-time.

GP and Women in Medicine in Ireland Network founder Sarah Fitzgibbon. 'I would pick out the gender pay gap, which sometimes I feel that we gloss over,” said Dr Fitzgibbon. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins

Madeleine Ní Dhálaigh, a member of the IMO GP Committee, said the gender equality in medicine survey shows women were disproportionately affected.

“How can we expect female doctors to work in our health system if they are being treated this way,” she asked. “This is having a profoundly negative effect on the health system and patients are losing out because of it.”

Dr Ní Dhálaigh called for family-friendly work options to improve flexibility and changes to how doctors are trained.

Founder of Women in Medicine in Ireland Network, and formerly a GP in Cork, Sarah Fitzgibbon, said the findings reflect what she hears anecdotally from their 750 members.

“I would pick out the gender pay gap, which sometimes I feel that we gloss over,” Dr Fitzgibbon said. 

Within the results we know two thirds of women accept there might be a gender pay gap, that means one third have no idea such a thing exists. 

A CSO study showed a gender pay gap of 31.5%, which would have been startling to her as a student in University College Cork in 1994, let alone now, she added.

Irish Medical Council president Suzanne Crowe also referenced the 1990s, saying it is disappointing to see so little relative progress.

“We’re very fortunate in Ireland that we have many strong leaders who are women and who have been involved in campaigning for the rights of many who find themselves in a position where they can’t speak up for themselves,” she said.

“Women like Margaret Murphy, Lorraine Walsh, and the late Vicky Phelan continue to inspire, not just us at the IMC but also the great Irish public because they were so unafraid in speaking up for patient rights.”

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She also called on women to support women as doctors and patients.

“When I was 34 weeks pregnant, I was rostered for a 72-hour weekend shift, by a woman,” she said. When she questioned this, her boss said: “But Suzanne, we’ve all had to do this.”

Former IMO president Ita Kelly said bullying leads to “silent suffering” and she called for power imbalances to be addressed.