Doctors’ union chiefs ‘send naked photos and joke about women colleagues’ bra sizes’
Medical profession is like Monty Python, say sexism whistleblowers
SENIOR members of the doctors’ union sent female colleagues unsolicited naked pictures and publicly joked about colleagues’ bra sizes, it was claimed yesterday.
The bombshell allegations have been made by two leading female GPs, who outlined an everyday culture of ‘nudge, nudge’ sexism more suited ‘to a Monty Python sketch’ than the union’s GP committee.
Demanding a ‘wholesale culture shift’ in the British Medical Association, they outlined a series of examples of everyday sexism like ‘squeezing of thighs’ and ‘patting of bottoms’ and complained of being called disparaging names like ‘naughty girl’ at a union conference.
one senior female colleague was so fed up with being propositioned by male colleagues at conferences that she only now attends with a family member, they said.
The claims have prompted an investigation by the BMA, whose chairman said he was ‘appalled’ by the way women were treated, while NHS England warned that it ‘will not stand for everyday sexism’.
Dr Zoe Norris and Dr Katie BramallStainer made the allegations in a furious article on the GP online website, claiming they had decided to speak out on behalf of colleagues who had suffered harassment, sexism and discrimination. The trigger was a union conference last month when male colleagues called them disparaging names such as ‘naughty girl’ and ‘little girl’.
Since then, they said they have been ‘bombarded’ by countless women who have endured similar experiences, ‘some verbal; many physical. All unwelcome. All damaging,’ they wrote.
‘The squeezing of the thighs. The patting of the bottoms. The incessant nudge is nudge, wink-wink more suitably placed within a 1970s Monty Python sketch.
‘There must be a wholesale culture shift away from drinking and dinners, taps on the shoulder to take on roles, under-the-breath comments, factions and back-stabbing.
‘This behaviour belongs in the past. It has no place in our profession. It has no place in our leadership.
‘The time is now to blow open the lid on this outdated culture and give credence and time to those whose voices have been silenced: the lost leaders. ‘‘But there are systems in place! Codes of conduct”, we hear you cry. That true. But there are many colleagues who have told us these processes – which purport to be the solution and to support those affected – are intimidating, accusatory and unsupportive.’
Citing a series of sexist events, the two doctors said a senior woman on the 77-strong GP committee has been targeted so many times she now feels unable to attend events away from home without a family member to accompany her.
They said another doctor told how she had been sent an unsolicited naked photograph by a male colleague while senior women have been asked by male colleagues ‘what their husband thinks of them being away for so long’.
In another case, a female GP overheard two ‘senior local medical committee people on the GP committee braying loudly at their guesstimated bra size of a key committee member’.
Dr Norris said: ‘I have never experienced the level of sexism and discrimination in my entire career that I have in the GP committee.’ Women outnumber men as GPs in the NHS, but on the BMA GP committee men outnumber women 52 to 25.
The BMA’s code of conduct says ‘ bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment, will not be tolerated’.
Dr Norris said she had avoided ‘ naming and shaming’ colleagues over sexism because of fears over how she would be treated, and about how she would be perceived.
The two doctors wrote: ‘Both of us have held prominent GP committee roles; we won’t in the future, largely because of the experiences we have had at the hands of some colleagues in those roles.’ Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA chairman, said: ‘I am appalled to hear of the treatment my colleagues describe and of similarly unacceptable behaviours. I want to say I’m sorry for them, and offer my heartfelt apologies on behalf of the whole association.’
Dr Nagpaul, who led the GP committee until becoming chairman of the BMA in 2016, promised to launch an independent investigation into the allegations.
He said: ‘Abusive behaviour has no place in the BMA and I recognise the courage it takes to come forward with such allegations and so I thank them. Sexist, disrespectful, discriminatory and abusive behaviour will not be tolerated and must be stamped out.’
Dr Nikita Kanani, NHS England’s medical director of primary care, said: ‘ The behaviours described by some of my colleagues belong firmly in the past. They have no place in our profession, and no place in our leadership, and we will not stand for ‘everyday sexism’.’
‘Thighs squeezed, bottoms patted’
‘Must be a cultural shift’