Violence Against Female Health Workers

“On the night of Aug 8, 2024, a 31-year-old female trainee doctor was raped and murdered towards the end of a 36-h shift at a hospital in Kolkata, India. A male civic volunteer has been arrested for the crime, the shocking nature of which motivated the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to call for a national strike. Much of the coverage has focused on the incident as an example of attacks on health workers. Globally, health workers experience high rates of workplace violence, with up to 62% of health workers suffering physical violence or non-physical violence at some point. But crucially, this was not only an attack on a doctor; it was also an attack on a woman. The misogynistic nature of the crime has thus far been underappreciated.

Violence against female health workers can manifest in many ways. Rape and murder represent extremes on the spectrum of workplace violence, defined by WHO as ‘incidents where staff are abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances related to their work’. Non-physical violence includes verbal abuse, threats, bullying, discrimination, and sexual harassment. Although reporting is often patchy, a scoping review found that 64% of studies reported a higher prevalence of all forms of workplace violence for women than for men in the health workforce. There are myriad reasons why health workers are particularly vulnerable to violence. Hospitals can be highly stressful and emotive environments. Patients and visitors can be at their most vulnerable. Behaviour can be influenced by mental health or substance use issues, and work in the community can be highly precarious. Staff work unsociable hours under enormous pressure. Women make up around 67% of global employment in the health and care sector, so they are statistically at greater risk of experiencing workplace violence. But this fact is a gross oversimplification of the situation.”

Read more on The structural roots of violence against female health workers via The Lancet.

Image source “Murdered Indian doctor’s father speaks out: ‘All I can do now is get her justice’” via The Guardian.