Sexual Harassment in the Context of Medical Organizations: Asymmetries of Power, Intersections of Inequalities, and the Privatization of Experience

This paper addresses cases of social situations that can be identified as sexual harassment in Russian healthcare. Drawing on the intersectional approach and some prerequisites of the sociology of professions, the article reveals several dimensions of power asymmetry in the context of medical professions and organizations, and analyzes their synergistic effects. In particular, it examines the symbolic inequalities of different medical professions, emphasizing their gendered character. The paper draws on mixed-method data consisting of 20 in-depth semi-structured interviews with nursing staff and 23 interviews with those medical professionals who agreed to share their experiences of sexual harassment. Additionally, results of an online survey (560 responses) on workplace interactions is drawn upon in the analysis.

Focusing on the emotional experiences of the research participants, the paper demonstrates that some health professionals find themselves in a vulnerable position on multiple grounds: gender, specialization, position in the professional hierarchy, age (generation), and others. Some local features of Russian healthcare and specific organizational cultures further amplify the effects of structural inequalities, reproducing additional — and mostly informal — dimensions of power. Under such conditions, the experience of sexual harassment is most often silenced both in the organizational context and in the public, yet remains emotionally sensitive for the victims. The article analyzes effects such as the privatization of personal experience, which renders the issue of sexual harassment in medicine methodologically and epistemologically uninvestigable, and in practice — unsolvable.

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