A recent survey of high-achieving medical academics found nearly 30 percent of female faculty members and 4 percent of male faculty members experienced sexual harassment, according to Medscape.
Researchers surveyed 1,719 career development award recipients from the National Institutes of Health in 2006 to 2009 on their career and personal experiences. Researchers had a 62 percent response rate.
Here are six points:
1. Among female faculty members reporting harassment, 59 percent said the harassment hurt their confidence as professionals.
2. Forty-seven percent of women reported the experience impended career development.
3. Pertaining to their harassment experience, 92 percent of women encountered sexist remarks or behavior and 41.3 percent of women experienced unwanted sexual advances.
4. Six percent of women encountered subtle bribery to engage in sexual behavior, 1.3 percent experienced a threat to engage in sexual behavior and 9.3 percent experienced coercive advances.
5. A 1995 survey found 52 percent of U.S. academic medical faculty women reported harassment at work compared with 5 percent of men.
6. The study's limitation includes 38 percent of those surveyed failed to respond.
"Although a lower proportion reported these experiences [sexual harassment] than in a 1995 sample, the difference appears large given that the women [in this new survey] began their careers after the proportion of female medical students exceeded 40 percent," the authors wrote. "Recognizing sexual harassment is important because perceptions that such experiences are rare may, ironically, increase stigmatization and discourage reporting. Efforts to mitigate the effect of unconscious bias in the workplace and eliminate more overtly inappropriate behaviors are needed."
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