IThere are inescapable moments, where suddenly the world before shakes on its foundations and falters beneath our feet. This is what is happening at the hospital. In recent days, thanks to the courage of some, speech has been freed. The hashtag #metoohopital quickly took hold on social media, paving the way for a tsunami of testimonies.
The situation of the hospital and the way in which sexism and discrimination were established there were, however, well known. For years, under the cover of this “rifle” culture, we defended ourselves as best we could, so as not to name the unspeakable. Rude remarks, pointed looks, attempted gestures in a corner of a corridor or elevator, wandering hands in the operating room, scathing replies to those who refuse, violence, both moral and physical.
But above all, this great silence, thick, painful, unshakeable, the ultimate rampart of denial. The fear of the consequences on one’s career, among oneself, the trivialization of these behaviors, the impunity too often observed maintained this silence again and again.
In 2020, the association Give them to health already denounced, in perfect harmony with this great cause of the five-year term of equality between women and men, these doctors and caregivers, invisible and reduced to silence, faced with the impossibility of freeing their voices.
We had to wait another four years. Four years of smirks. Four years where, in the name of this medical “culture”, a vestige of on-call rooms, we defended the attitude of those who allowed themselves anything. Four years of trying to break the code of silence, so that this hospital which trained us, whose faults we know but also whose qualities, which we respect and for which we fight every day, does not remain the last bastion of sexism , another “great mute” behind all the battles, singled out by those who believe in equality because it is a source of performance, medical progress and improvement in the care of the most vulnerable.
A perpetual challenge
Four years where we never doubted the relevance of our fight, patiently measuring, one year after another, the slow evolution of this reality. Four years spent highlighting, raising awareness and convincing. With, as a result, more and more support, within hospital governance as well as at the highest level of the State.
Despite sincere and motivated commitments from institutions, the process of sanctioning perpetrators, especially when they are doctors, is peppered with multiple cumbersome, complex steps, with more than uncertain results. Carrying out investigations into this type of violence remains complex: it is necessary to collect testimonies, review facts, word for word.
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