The amendments to three gender equality laws — the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法), the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別平等工作法) and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法) — were undoubtedly enacted in good faith, but revising laws is not enough to protect female healthcare professionals from gender-based assaults.
What is needed is a cultural shift to zero tolerance for gender-based violence and systematic reform to support anti-harassment efforts. Laws alone cannot dismantle the entrenched patriarchy in the medical profession. So long as women continue to account for only one-fifth of practicing doctors and remain underrepresented in senior positions, the unequal power dynamics would embolden some men to act with impunity.
Women are especially at risk during the early years of their careers, when powerful figures can easily silence those trying to report harassment. In surgeons’ cases, field training relies on learning from senior colleagues in the operating theater. It can be incredibly risky for a female trainee to speak up about being sexually harassed by her mentor as he holds power over her career prospects.
National Taiwan University professor Huang Yun-ju (黃韻如) has spoken openly about her experiences as a trainee in 2005. She recalls that after facing unwarranted sexual remarks from a senior gynecologist during surgery, a mentor talked on behalf of the perpetrator to urge her to drop the complaint for fear it would harm “his” career. The perpetrator was later found to have drugged and raped several medical sales representatives and was released on bail in April.
It is heart-wrenching to imagine that, over nearly 20 years, countless female healthcare workers have been suppressed and silenced, allowing this perpetrator to continue abusing his power.
Despite the legislative overhaul, not all medical workers are eligible for equal rights. The new laws mandate that workplaces with 10 or more employees must establish channels for reporting sexual misconduct. In other words, women in smaller clinics with less than 10 employees are deprived of the formal complaint mechanisms available to their counterparts in larger hospitals. Meanwhile, only workplaces with more than 500 employees are required to provide counseling services to victims upon request.
The amendments also assign different preventive responsibilities to employers depending on how they learn about harassment. If a formal complaint is filed, they are required to act, but without a complaint, their responsibility is limited to making “reasonable adjustments” to the victim’s work or workspace — a vague definition that is almost certain to create confusion and could lead to women being forced into unpaid leave, unwanted transfers or worse working conditions. It could also drive some employers to discourage complaints to avoid accountability.
To exacerbate the situation, most female healthcare workers are not well-informed about their rights. A Taipei Doctors Union study this year showed that 67.5 percent of female doctors have faced some form of sexual harassment at work, but most do not know how the reporting system works. The overly complicated reporting mechanism also deters those who want to report gender-based violence.
The amendments are indeed the result of tireless efforts by politicians and women who fought with the best intentions to protect women.
Legal changes are the start of the reform process, not the end. Much more work remains to be done.
We need to raise awareness of sexual misconduct through campaigns and online forums where healthcare workers can anonymously share their experiences of sexism and sexual violence. This would give victims a voice, challenge the deep-seated culture of gaslighting and victim-blaming, and help people in similar situations recognize patterns of workplace harassment.
Mandatory legal and gender equality workshops are also crucial to combating the ingrained misogyny in healthcare. Employees must be informed about their rights, the complaint process, available support and follow-up procedures.
Regular anonymous surveys could reveal how the system is failing workers, offering feedback on reporting mechanisms and identifying who should oversee harassment investigations — if hospitals and clinics are willing to ask the tough questions. Sharing the results across the organization would promote transparency and help dismantle the entrenched power hierarchy in the medical field.
Lastly, senior management must also do more to communicate their zero-tolerance position and pair the necessary training with supportive policies that ensure it is not just a check-box gesture to avoid liability.
Our new gender legislation is a step in the right direction. It would undoubtedly punish those who abuse their power over the women they work with, but we can do better.
At a time when the healthcare workforce is consistently in crisis, it needs a radical overhaul of its culture to eradicate institutional misogyny once and for all.
Lo Yi-ting is a freelance writer based in the UK, focusing on geopolitics and gender-related issues.
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