There are 104,974 female medical graduates living in Pakistan, per a survey by PRIDE and Gallup Pakistan. 21,146, or 20.1%, of the total are not employed. Pakistan is not an exception to the global trend of more women working in medicine. There used to be very few female students enrolled in Pakistani medical colleges, but since open merit admissions were implemented a few years ago, the proportion of female students in medical and dental schools has grown, and in practically all medical institutions today. Since the majority of women quit their jobs for a variety of reasons, criticism of them is growing along with their numbers. One of them is safety concerns at work place.
The harsh reality that female healthcare workers in Pakistani hospitals deal with on an almost daily basis is one of verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and assault. Women who work in hospitals around the nation expose a secret epidemic that goes mostly undetected because of worries about “honor and respect,” fear of reprisals, and job loss. According to the testimonies of female physicians and nurses, there is a pervasive culture of abuse that goes beyond hospital employees. The unfriendly atmosphere is also influenced by patients and their family. However, the majority of this catastrophe goes undetected. More than a dozen female Pakistani medical professionals told the BBC they were concerned about their personal safety after a 31-year-old trainee doctor was raped and killed while working at an Indian hospital.
Healthcare professionals in rural areas confront more obstacles. Urban areas are not the only places where the gloomy reality exists. Women healthcare personnel encounter unique difficulties at remote facilities.Female medical staff members are left on their own and frequently have to deal with violent interactions from patients or visitors who come into hospitals, many of whom are drunk or under the influence of narcotics.
Hospitals are with inadequate security and structural flaws, many hospitals lack proper security measures. Even basic amenities like CCTV cameras are either inadequate or non-operational, and security personnel are frequently absent. Public hospitals get thousands of patients and visitors every day, which increases the possibility of attacks on medical personnel. Female healthcare professionals recount terrifying experiences in which patients or their relatives physically and verbally abuse them.
After a long 18- or 36-hour shift, it is common to see exhausted doctors reclining on a shabby sofa in a run-down old room without locks or appropriate beds, resting with their eyes wide and their backs straight.
Families of patients quarrel over diagnoses or sneer at female nurses and physicians as they go about their work outside the tumultuous emergency room of either the pricey private hospital or the overcrowded government hospital.
Sometimes the family of a patient loses their temper, venting their frustration at an unachievable circumstance on others who are putting forth endless effort to care for their loved one. At a hospital, nobody wants to deliver or hear terrible news. A female doctor may be harassed by male co-workers, including juniors, seniors, department leaders, professors, and even lower-level employees.
In Pakistan, where many parents hope their daughters would become doctors because they think their white coats will shield them from the harsher parts of society, these are the everyday realities faced by female medical professionals. Regretfully, it isn’t always the case.
Is there any solution for this?
Laws pertaining to women’s rights and empowerment in Pakistan have a complicated history of successes and failures. The need to reconcile differing opinions on women’s status in society complicates the state’s attempts to define women’s rights. According to a news report, “although there have been some beneficial laws since the democratic transition started in 2008, the Parliament’s reluctance to repeal or reform discriminatory laws, the lack of a national domestic violence law, and a gender-insensitive, broken criminal justice system all contribute to the persistent violence and discrimination against Pakistani women.
The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) requires the Pakistani government to fight gender inequality and remove obstacles to women’s empowerment. The government may significantly reduce violence against women by abolishing discriminatory laws, upholding laws that protect women, and guaranteeing their access to gender-responsive law enforcement and courts. The almost complete lack of female voices is counter to CEDAW.
As a result, constitutional provisions that support women, including the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act of 2016, are ineffectual. The primary barrier to improving women’s plight and guaranteeing the safety and well-being of women impacted by conflict must be recognized as their invisibility as victims, survivors, leaders, and peacemakers. Pakistan’s persistent gender inequality is the primary cause of women’s exclusion or invisibility. Pakistan ranks second to last globally in terms of gender equality, coming in at number 141 in the annual Global Gender Gap report.