Sexual harassment is frequently seen -- but usually ignored -- in Taiwan's hospitals, a group of nurses and lawyers said yesterday, in the wake of highly-publicized allegations by a nurse against a Taipei doctor.
They say most facilities -- including Taiwan University Hospital (
Concerning the recent incident at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (
Nurses attending the meeting said that operating rooms are one of the most common places for sexual harassment to occur.
"When I was an intern, many times I saw surgeons patting nurses on the bottom in the operating room," one nurse from Taiwan University Hospital said.
Like most hospitals, this major facility does not have any guidelines for handling complaints of sexual harassment.
The only way to report such incidents is though a general complaint which is not specific for sexually related harassment, according to public relations staff at the hospital.
"Sometimes doctors would harass you while you were washing your hands preparing for surgery," said Hsiao Chih (
With 20 years of experience in the medical field, she said she had seen and heard of many instances of sexual harassment in hospitals and from nursing school students.
A 1994 study sponsored by Kaohsiung City government and conducted by Kaohsiung Medical College indicated that 43 percent of nurses had experienced some form of sexual harassment.
The study found that 53 percent of the offenders were doctors and 27 percent were committed by patients.
Another research project sponsored by the Kaohsiung County government in 1995 showed that 33 percent of nursing students had had to deal with situations of sexual harassment during their internships.
Hsiao said it was unfortunate that most doctors and other male staff in hospitals still hold outmoded views towards sexual harassment.
Hospitals and employers are still unaware of their responsibility to safeguard against sexual harassment, she said.
"The attitude of handling the cases is often perfunctory, and the process is veiled and biased," she said.
"We would like to convey our thanks to the nurse who uncovered the Chang Gung Hospital case, because we have kept silent for too long," she said.
In fact, the Chang Gung case simply reflects the disadvantageous position of nurses in Taiwan, said Hsiao.
She said in judging employment disputes, nurses are always outnumbered in the committees, and their voices are rarely heard as a result.
Wu Chian-liang (
He said hospitals should set up a sexual harassment prevention mechanism before the Law of Gender Equality in the Workplace is passed.
The bill is the only effective regulation against sexual harassment in the workplace, but it is still pending at the legislature.
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