A gap in health sector regulation is leaving Australian care workers unprotected from gendered violence

Gendered violence is widespread in the Australian healthcare system, according to new ANU research. The findings reveal that there are currently no regulatory guidelines designed specifically to protect practitioners from patients. This has left one in four Victorian healthcare workers unprotected when they have experienced inappropriate physical contact at work.

Based on Work-related gendered violence against Victorian healthcare workers: A review of theliterature, by Gosia Mikołajczak, Isobel Barry, Emma Summerhayes, Michelle Ryan, Marian Baird, Natalie Barr and Becca Shepard, published July 2024.

Key takeaways

• 70 per cent of surveyed Victorian health workers had experienced aggression, violence, or abuse at work. One in four experienced inappropriate physical contact.

• Of those who experienced sexual harassment, half didn’t submit a complaint for fear of repercussions. They said that it ‘wouldn’t make a difference’, indicating a need to foster cultural change in the sector.

• Currently, there are no regulatory guidelines designed specifically to protect practitioners from patients. Policies designed to address work-related gendered violence should consider this gap.

Ending violence against women is one of Australia’s foremost policy priorities. Earlier this year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese convened an emergency meeting of Cabinet in response to advocacy, pledging more than $900 million to programs helping women escape family violence.

But according to a new report from the ANU Global Institute for Women’s Leadership for the Health and Community Services Union, gendered violence in the health sector remains rife.

The report summarises the available evidence on violence in the Victorian health and community care workforce. It shows this violence is gendered, with workplace sexual harassment commonplace. It also finds that there are currently no regulatory guidelines designed specifically to protect practitioners from patients.

More than half of respondents reported hearing sexually suggestive comments or jokes. Some 26 per cent of workers had experienced inappropriate physical contact including unwelcome touching, hugging, cornering, or kissing.

Of those who experienced harassment, more than half didn’t submit a formal complaint. When asked why, 50 per cent said that the incident ‘wasn’t serious enough’, and 40 per cent that it ‘wouldn’t make a difference’.

Some expressed concerns for their reputation. Of doctors in training, 50 per cent didn’t report bullying, harassment or discrimination due to fears of repercussions.

The findings also highlighted the serious consequences of harassment on workers’ wellbeing, and the quality of care they can provide – 53 per cent of Victorian workers said bullying, harassment or discrimination was causing them severe stress. Much of this violence had been perpetrated by patients and their families.

Assessing the findings, ANU experts said that due to the nature of care work, extended contact with patients in isolation from other staff members is often required. This puts them at a particularly high risk of gendered violence.

As such, policies designed to address work-related gendered violence should consider this gap, foster cultural change, and prioritise prevention and re-occurrence of gendered violence.

"Of those who experienced harassment, more than half didn’t submit a formal complaint. When asked why, 50 per cent said that the incident ‘wasn’t serious enough’, and 40 per cent that it ‘wouldn’t make a difference’"

According to ANU experts, attempts to address gendered violence in the health sector that would work best would take a whole-of-sector approach and specifically protect practitioners from patients in the workplace. The most effective policies will be those directed at the structural drivers of gendered violence, such as poor working conditions, staffing levels, and prevailing workplace culture.

This article was originally published by ANU Policy Brief, here.