Research Paper about Sexual Assault

Every year there are over 400,000 females over the age of twelve that fall victim to sexual assault and harassment in the United States alone. Approximately 80% of these cases go unreported each year. We live in a society that brushes off sexual assault and puts a lot of the blame on women. These women deal with various forms of physical and mental trauma due to the assault. With minimal upper-level medical professionals being female, there are not enough women in healthcare to support the women and girls who deal with various forms of violence every day. Men make up almost 70% of all upper-level medical professionals in the nation, leaving just 30% to be female. This lack of female representation in upper-level global healthcare leadership positions creates an unequal environment for female doctors and patients.

When we are children, if we are hurt or sick, instinctually we want our mothers. We feel the need for a mother’s love. When thinking about people who are caring, gentle, and kind, stereotypically a woman will come to mind. That is the role that has been assigned to us. Consequently, many people feel better if not more cared for when they have a female doctor or caregiver. So then why is it that women are so underrepresented in the healthcare world? In many countries, women make up 75% of the healthcare workforce. Regardless, there are rarely any women in the decision-making positions. They usually hold the lower to middle-level positions (Dhatt 1). It is so rare in fact that they hold less than 30% of the upper-level positions in most healthcare organizations. This brings up an argument of the lack of gender equality in our global healthcare systems. “ Meanwhile, the top ten grossing health-related companies in the private sector are led entirely by men. In academia, seven of the deans at the top ten globally ranked schools of public health are men, and only 16% of medical school deans were women. This is despite the fact that women make up the majority of public and global health students. Harvard’s global health student body, composed of 71% women, is a prime example of the gender disparity in academia.” (Dhatt 2). Many may be concerned that making this a priority will lead to women being hired purely because they are female and not because of their skills and talent. Yet this is not the case. There are many extremely qualified women doing amazing things in the medical world. Employers need only look past biases and hire women with the same process they hire men. With such a large number of women attending and graduating from medical school, one would assume that a large number of global healthcare leaders would be women. As a result, the question of where this discrepancy in the number of female professionals surfaces. Is it due to bias, a history of discrimination, or some other factor?

To fully understand the seriousness of this issue, it is crucial to first understand the long history behind this problem. A history that dates back even to Ancient Greece. Women and individuals who menstruate are often seen as overly emotional and irrational due to the effects of the menstrual cycle. These effects placed a heavy bias within the minds of men. “The historical—and hysterical—idea that women’s excessive emotions have profound influences on their bodies, and vice versa, is impressed like a photographic negative beneath today’s image of the attention-seeking, hypochondriac female patient.” (Cleghorn). The emotions and physical pain that come alongside a menstrual cycle do not make that person weak, it makes them stronger. Society has always put women underneath men but in recent years they’ve begun to make their breakthrough to the top and show just how powerful they can be. Unfortunately, this breakthrough is not happening quick enough to give women the care they deserve both as a patient and as healthcare professionals.

Working in the medical field is a challenge for anyone but being a woman in the medical field is a challenge all on its own. A challenge that adds unnecessary stress and anxiety to an already intense career. Daily, female medical practitioners are faced with a wide variety of comments, mental health issues, and insufficient wages. They receive comments such as “you’re too pretty to be a doctor” and are consistently asked if they are nurses (Tran-Harding). These comments are degrading as they assume that the woman who worked extremely hard for the position she is in is actually a lower-level employee purely because she’s a female. “At the time, we speculated that part of the gender pay disparity could be the result of employers playing a different negotiating game with female doctors. For example, they may offer lower compensation to women physicians by taking advantage of the greater concerns some of them have for gaining other benefits in their jobs. These other benefits may align better with their tendency to take on more of the spousal and parental roles in their households, benefits such as time off, flexible work schedules, and day care support for their children.” (Hoff). These biases make the hiring process for women significantly more difficult than that of men. Having to constantly break through the barrier of doubt that is created when talking about children, family, or other activities outside of work makes an interview for a woman strenuous. This can not only lead to fewer women being hired for upper-level positions but also lose the will to continue to fight for a place in the medical world.

Historically, it has always been a challenge for women to receive care that one hundred percent fits their needs. Specifically, reproductive care. One of the biggest issues regarding reproductive health that women have faced is that of abortion. For years, there has been a war between people who are pro-life and people who are pro-choice. Pro-lifers are known to be gathered outside of Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health facilities heckling women walking into the building whether they’re entering to receive an abortion or just pick up a new prescription of birth control. They are also known to have signs that bear offensive language and messages towards women who are making a decision that affects no one but themselves. These messages include phrases such as “birth control causes cancer”, “would your parents want a grandchild”, and “abortion changes you” (Allen). Events such as these could be easily prevented if more people in the healthcare world were fighting for women and no one is going to fight harder than a woman. Which further supports the idea that without a larger percentage of women controlling the healthcare world, there is only so much inequality that can be fixed.

Along with restrictions on abortions and reproductive care for women, when a woman is sexually assaulted or raped she is often not taken seriously and the man is believed over her. This has been a constant issue in our country. Males are typically deemed more trustworthy and aware of a situation in the medical field resulting in this lack of acknowledgment of what really happened.  When fighting for justice after an act of sexual assault women are often asked questions such as “why didn’t you keep your knees together?” and “why did you allow this to happen?”, many of which cause the women to end up dropping out of the fight for justice (Rizvic). Someone who has been sexually assaulted should never have to stop fighting for justice if justice is what they want. And yet they do. This leads to a great majority of female victims developing a deep-rooted fear of speaking out about what they experienced. They have a fear of not being believed and fear of how others will treat them. (Kaszovitz). Ultimately, it is generally the men who are not so receptive to this type of case. If the majority of professionals dealing with these types of cases are men it will be impossible to eradicate this issue. Women advocating for women within the higher ranks of the healthcare world would make the process of speaking out significantly easier and more comfortable for the female victims.

While yes, we are seeing classes graduate from medical school with a large majority of female students and seeing an increase in the amount of female representation in the medical world, it is not enough. Women in the United States deserve the ability to access the care they need and get the justice they deserve. The women currently in global healthcare leadership positions are doing the best they can to combat this crisis that is rocking the medical world. Yet, more women are needed in these positions. They are needed to level the playing field and work to close the gender inequality gap.