--- title: "CLASH: tackling sexism in hospitals" description: "The student collective CLASH Bern, winner of the University of Bern’s Prix Lux, fights sexism in hospitals and is building a reporting platform for students." url: https://unibefoundation.ch/en/blog/never-again-sweetie-student-collective-against-sexism-in-hospitals updated: 2026-09-16 --- # CLASH: tackling sexism in hospitals > The student collective CLASH Bern, winner of the University of Bern’s Prix Lux, fights sexism in hospitals and is building a reporting platform for students. Blog 11. April 2024 # Never again the “sweetie” – a student collective takes action against sexism in hospitals ## **In brief** [\#](#in-brief "Direct link to In brief") In 2023, CLASH (Collectif de Lutte contre les Attitudes Sexistes en milieu Hospitalier) received the Prix Lux of the University of Bern. The collective works to protect medical students on hospital placements from sexual harassment – both verbal and non-verbal. In conversation with Lena Woodtli, I learn about her commitment to CLASH Bern and the goals CLASH is pursuing. ### **Sexism in hospitals** [\#](#sexism-in-hospitals "Direct link to Sexism in hospitals") During their placements, medical students experience sexism in hospitals first-hand. A study conducted in 2018 by medical students at the University of Lausanne shows that 60% of trainees had witnessed sexual harassment and 36% had personally experienced such violations of boundaries. Pronounced hierarchies among staff and close physical work in hospitals encourage abuse of power and sexual harassment, to which students are particularly exposed. Sexism can occur between trainees and their superiors or patients. In 2018 – after the study was published – the CLASH collective was founded in Lausanne. The CLASH Bern collective has existed since 2022. It is committed to changing the medical work environment. In 2023, the collective won the Prix Lux of the University of Bern, which is awarded for actively promoting equal opportunities. CLASH caught my attention because, as a student, I too am affected by everyday sexism and have experienced situations in which boundaries were crossed. The UniBE Foundation promotes a research environment 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 CLASH’s work at the university. Today I am meeting Lena Woodtli. She is in the second semester of her Master’s in medicine and is a co-founder of CLASH Bern. Lena tells me about her commitment to CLASH, how the collective works, what goals it pursues and how the Prix Lux has affected its work. ## **Interview with Lena Woodtli** [\#](#interview-with-lena-woodtli "Direct link to Interview with Lena Woodtli") **UniBE Foundation: Lena, what motivated you to co-found CLASH?** When I decided to study medicine, many people told me: “As a woman, you will have many experiences in the operating theatre and with patients that cross boundaries and are very distressing. Do you really want to work in such an environment?” And I asked myself the same question. I then decided that I did not want these concerns to stop me from doing what I really wanted to do. Instead, I decided to commit myself to changing this work environment. That is why I co-founded CLASH Bern. **You are currently on a placement yourself. How are you experiencing it?** I pay close attention to boundary violations. It does not take much to annoy me. But at the same time, I notice how difficult it is to react immediately in such a situation. Even though I am aware of sexism and know that it is important to stand up for myself, I am conscious that I will receive assessment-relevant feedback from this person or depend on their signature to pass the placement. I feel this hierarchy very clearly. I myself was in a situation where I addressed inappropriate behaviour, and the person, whom I had otherwise considered very competent and enlightened, reacted strangely. That is when I realised how deeply rooted these structures are. **What is CLASH doing to change sexist structures in medicine?** An important part is raising awareness among students. At the beginning of each semester, we visit the new cohorts to introduce ourselves and our projects. With our work, we show what their future everyday working life will unfortunately involve. But we also show what means there are to defend yourself or get help. We hope to convey that if many people speak out against sexualised violence, again and again, things will change at some point. The biggest project we are working on is a reporting platform for those affected by sexualised violence. Last year, we also designed posters featuring remarks from everyday placement life. On the one hand, they are meant to inform, and on the other, to show those affected that they are not alone. Today, the posters hang in the medical library, for example, where remarks such as these can now be read: > *Where does that charming voice come from? Oh no, I’m not allowed to say that any more, otherwise it’ll be #metoo again straight away.* > > Lena Woodtli Of course, it would be great if we could also put them up at the Inselspital or another university hospital. All in all, we want to show that even if it is difficult to stand up for yourself within 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 that the university’s cannot?** The reporting platform is intended to collect data so that it can then be evaluated. We want to use the evaluations to show medical institutions, with precise figures, how many incidents there are and in which contexts they occur. This makes it possible to demonstrate the urgency of the problem statistically and to see 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 established at Lausanne University Hospital and holds six-monthly meetings with the hospital management. They present the data they have collected and discuss measures that help to improve the workplace. There we see that cooperation between students and the hospital is possible and makes a difference. **How do you make sexual harassment measurable for the reporting platform?** Making sexual harassment measurable is very difficult. We are aware of that. On the reporting platform, we therefore try to collect as many details as possible about the incident through a precise description of the situation, in order to specify it. It is important to bear in mind that sexual harassment involves individual violations of boundaries. Where the boundary lies is different for each person, and that must be respected. This is also how sexual harassment is defined legally, and we based the questionnaire for the platform on this. **It is not only students who are affected by abuse of power and sexism in hospitals. How do you deal with that?** Narrowing down the problem and relating it to something we experience ourselves makes it more tangible and also easier to implement. In addition, we were able to draw on the CLASH concept and adapt it for Bern, which also made parts of the work – new to us – easier. We also asked ourselves whether we should expand the reporting platforms, but soon realised that even this one aspect requires a great deal of work. To start with, limiting it to students is much easier to implement. We are also supported in this work by the Institute of Primary Health Care. It is part of the university, which is another reason why limiting the target group to students makes sense. Even junior doctors no longer have access to the tool, and the same applies to nursing staff. We see setting up this reporting platform for students as an important step and would be very pleased if the platform were expanded later. **How does CLASH work together across Switzerland?** There is an Inter-CLASH association that meets every six months. We organise some events together. Exchange is important for all of us. For the reporting platform, for example, we were able to benefit from the knowledge of other CLASH groups. Exchange makes particular sense in order to make data comparable and, quite simply, to share the workload so that we can achieve results faster. **Is the aim for CLASH to act uniformly throughout Switzerland?** Yes, a joint website will soon go online. The regional subgroups will continue to exist, however. One goal is to expand the existing reporting platforms throughout Switzerland. This would make sense, especially because medical students do not necessarily complete their placements at the university hospitals of their own university. We would then also have data sets covering the whole of Switzerland. Implementing this will probably take some time, though. **What would you like from the hospital or the faculty to strengthen cooperation?** What we would certainly like is for our work to be regarded as valuable. It should be recognised that sexism in hospitals is not an individual problem but a systemic one – and one that also concerns the university. The risk of sexism being trivialised is high, and we hope that the university and the faculty will also actively take a stand against it and regard our work as valuable. > *Sexism in hospitals is not an individual problem but a systemic one.* > > Lena Woodtli **How has the Prix Lux changed your work?** Many people have contacted us for interviews and articles. Before, few people knew who we were, and interest was very low. It is nice to feel that we are seen and that there is recognition. Even though we enjoy it, we do our work for CLASH unpaid. That can be very exhausting. The Prix Lux has given us the energy to keep going. It also shows that the university is behind us, which allows us to continue working on our projects. People now treat us with more respect, and our demands are taken more seriously. The money is of course also helpful. Until now, we had to pay our CLASH expenses ourselves – that has now changed. **What have been your personal CLASH highlights?** The cooperation and exchange with the other CLASH groups is inspiring. CLASH Lausanne, for example, has already built up a great deal. That is wonderful for us to see and makes us want more. It is also a great feeling to be in a room with thirty people who had the same worries at the start of their studies and who are now all working towards the same goal and happy to invest a lot of time in achieving it. CLASH has not been active at the University of Bern for long. Nevertheless, the collective has achieved a great deal in a short time. The commitment and enjoyment CLASH Bern brings to its work show that the collective’s demands and the time it invests can change the medical workplace in the long term – at the University of Bern and at other Swiss universities. ### About the person [\#](#about-the-person "Direct link to About the person") **LENA WOODTLI** is in the second semester of her Master’s in medicine. She has been involved with CLASH Bern from the very beginning and co-founded the collective in 2022. ### About CLASH [\#](#about-clash "Direct link to About CLASH") **CLASH** (Collectif de Lutte contre les Attitudes Sexistes en milieu Hospitalier) was founded in Lausanne in 2018 by medical students to tackle the hierarchical power imbalances in hospitals. The aim was and is to stand up against sexist behaviour, whether verbal or non-verbal, and to change the work environment in the long term. A key element was setting up a reporting platform for sexual harassment, which is run by the collective. 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