Never be the 'sweetheart' again - A collective of students takes action against sexism in hospitals

Summarised for you:

In 2023, CLASH (Collectif de Lutte contre les Attitudes Sexistes en milieu Hospitalier) received the Prix Lux from the University of Bern. The collective is committed to protecting medical students from sexual assault - both verbal and non-verbal - during accompanying internships in hospitals. In an interview with Lena Woodtli, I find out about her involvement with CLASH Bern and what goals CLASH is pursuing.

Sexism in hospital

During their internship, medical students experience sexism in hospitals at first hand. A 2018 study of medical students at the University of Lausanne shows that 60% of interns witnessed sexual assaults and 36% personally experienced such transgressions. Strong hierarchies between employees and close physical work in hospitals favour the abuse of power and sexual assault; students are particularly exposed to this. Sexism can occur between interns and supervisors or even patients. In 2018 - following the publication of the study - the CLASH collective was founded in Lausanne. The CLASH Bern collective has been in existence since 2022 and is committed to changing the medical working environment. In 2023, the collective won the Prix Lux from the University of Bern. This is awarded for the active promotion of equal opportunities.

CLASH caught my attention because, as a student, I am also affected by sexism in everyday life and have experienced transgressive situations myself. The UniBE Foundation promotes a scientific organisation that achieves long-term sustainable success with diverse teams and for which equality of all genders in the working and research environment is fundamental. That is why I am particularly interested in the work of CLASH at the university. Today I'm meeting Lena Woodtli. She is studying medicine in her second master's semester and is a co-founder of CLASH Bern. Lena tells me about her involvement with CLASH, how the collective works, what goals it pursues and how the Prix Lux has affected its work.

Interview with Lena Woodtli

UniBE Foundation: Lena, what drove you to co-found CLASH?

When I decided to study medicine, many people told me: "As a woman, you have many experiences in the operating theatre and with patients that cross boundaries and are very stressful. Do you really want to work in such an environment?" And I asked myself that too. I then decided that I didn't want to let these worries stop me from doing what I would actually like to do. However, I decided to work towards changing this working environment. That's why I co-founded CLASH Bern.

You are currently doing an internship yourself. How do you experience it?

I pay a lot of attention to crossing boundaries. It doesn't take much for me to get annoyed. But at the same time, I realise how difficult it is to react immediately in such a situation. Even if I am sensitised to sexism and know that it is important to defend myself, I am aware that I will receive feedback from this person that is relevant to my grade or that I am dependent on their signature to pass the internship. I can sense this hierarchy very clearly. I myself had a situation in which I addressed behaviour that overstepped boundaries, to which this person, whom I had otherwise classified as very competent and enlightened, reacted strangely. That's when I realised how deeply ingrained these structures are.

What does CLASH do to change sexist structures in the medical sector?

Raising awareness among students is an important part of this. At the start of each semester, we visit the new year groups to introduce ourselves and our projects. We use our work to show what everyday life will unfortunately entail in the future. But we also show what means are available to fight back or get help. We hope to convey that if many people speak out against sexualised violence and do so repeatedly, something will change at some point.

The biggest project we are working on is a reporting platform for victims of sexualised violence. Last year, we also designed posters with slogans from everyday work experience. On the one hand, they are intended to educate people and, on the other, to show those affected that they are not alone: Today, the posters are hanging in the medical library, for example. Sayings like these can now be read there:

"Where does that lovely voice come from? Ah no, I'm not allowed to say that any more or there'll be #metoo again."

Of course, it would be nice if we could hang them up at Inselspital or another university hospital. All in all, our aim is to show that even if it is difficult to fight back in these hierarchies, there are ways to do so.

The University of Bern also has a reporting service for those affected. What can the CLASH reporting platform do better than the university's?

The reporting platform is to be used to collect data and then analyse it. We want to use the analyses to show medical institutions with precise figures how many incidents there are and in what contexts they occur. In this way, the urgency of the problem can be visualised statistically and it can be seen where there is potential for improvement. The university's reporting platform does not do this.

CLASH Lausanne is a role model for us in this project. The collective is now firmly anchored at Lausanne University Hospital and holds biannual meetings with the hospital management. They present the data they have collected and discuss measures that contribute to improving operations. This is where we see that collaboration between students and the hospital is possible and makes a difference.

How do you make sexual assault measurable for the reporting platform?

It is very difficult to measure sexual assault. We are aware of this. On the reporting platform, we therefore try to collect as many details as possible about the assault by describing the situation in detail in order to specify the situation. It is important to note that sexual assaults are individual transgressions. Where the boundary lies is different for each person and this must be respected. This is also the legal definition of sexual assault and this is where we started with the questionnaire for the platform.

It's not just students who are affected by abuse of power and sexism in hospitals. How do you deal with it?

Limiting the problem and relating it to something we experience ourselves is more tangible and also easier to implement. We were also able to draw on the CLASH concept and adapt it in Bern, which also made some of the work - which was new to us - easier.

We also asked ourselves whether we should expand the reporting platforms, but immediately realised that this aspect alone would require a lot of work. To start with, restricting it to students is much easier to implement. We are also supported in this work by the Institute for General Practitioners. This works at the university, which is why it makes sense to restrict the group of people to students. Even junior doctors no longer have access to the tool. The same applies to carers. We see it as an important step to set up this reporting platform for students and would be very pleased if the platform is expanded at a later date.

How does CLASH work together throughout Switzerland?

There is an inter-CLASH association that meets every six months. We organise some events as part of this collaboration. It's important for all of us to exchange ideas. With the reporting platform, for example, we were able to benefit from the knowledge of other CLASHs. The exchange makes particular sense in order to make data comparable and simply to relieve each other of work in order to achieve results more quickly.

Is there a goal for CLASH to act uniformly throughout Switzerland?

Yes, a standardised website will soon be launched. However, the regional sub-groups will continue to exist. One endeavour is to expand the existing registration platforms throughout Switzerland. This would be particularly useful because medical students do not necessarily do their internships at the university hospitals of the respective universities. Then we would also have data sets that cover the whole of Switzerland. However, it will probably take some time to realise this.

What would you like to see from the hospital or the faculty to strengthen collaboration?

The fact that our work is seen as valuable is certainly what we want. It should
It must be recognised that sexism in hospitals is not an individual problem, but a systemic one. And one that also affects the university. There is a great danger that sexism will be trivialised and
We hope that the university and the faculty will actively work against this and recognise the value of our work.

"Sexism in hospitals is not an individual problem, but a systemic one."

How has the Prix Lux changed your work?

Many people contacted us for interviews and contributions. Before that, only a few people knew who we were and there was very little interest. It's nice to feel that we are being seen and that we are being recognised. We do our work for CLASH unpaid, even though we enjoy doing it. That can be very exhausting. The Prix Lux has given us the energy to keep going. The Prix Lux also shows that the university is behind us. It allows us to continue working on our projects. We are now treated with more respect and our demands are also taken more seriously. The money is also helpful, of course. Until now, we had to pay our own expenses for CLASH, but that's different now.

What were your personal CLASH highlights?

The collaboration and exchange with the other CLASHs is inspiring. CLASH Lausanne, for example, has already built up a great deal. That's great for us to see and makes us want to do more. It's also a great feeling to be in a room filled with thirty people who had the same concerns at the beginning of their studies and are now all working towards the same goal and are happy to invest a lot of time to achieve it.

CLASH has not been active at the University of Bern for very long. Nevertheless, the collective has achieved a great deal in a short space of time. The commitment and enjoyment of CLASH Bern's work shows that the demands and the time invested by the collective can change the medical sector in the long term - at the University of Bern and at other Swiss universities.

LENA WOODTLI is studying medicine in her second master's semester. She has been part of CLASH Bern since the beginning and co-founded the collective in 2022.

CLASH (Collectif de Lutte contre les Attitudes Sexistes en milieu Hospitalier) was founded by medical students in Lausanne in 2018 to tackle the hierarchical power imbalances in hospitals. The aim was and is to fight against sexist behaviour, whether verbal or non-verbal, and to change the working environment in the long term. The establishment of a reporting platform for sexual assaults, which is managed by the collective, was important in this regard.

The collective has formed regional subgroups throughout Switzerland. CLASH exists in Geneva, Zurich, Fribourg, Lugano and, since 2022, also in Bern. In 2023, CLASH Bern was awarded the Prix Lux by the University of Bern.

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Here you can find CLASH on Instagram.