“A lot of innuendo and sexual remarks”, testifies a former caregiver

With the France Télévisions teams, a former caregiver from the Poitiers University Hospital (Vienna) speaks anonymously about the harassment and sexist violence that she suffered daily in her work. She indicates in particular that men aged 20 to 30 years older than her, “began to make advances towards me, to make me understand that they liked me”. The caregiver reports having heard “hello my beauty, hello my beautiful”, “but with very sharp, very inappropriate looks, a lot of innuendo and sexual remarks”.

Sanctions too slow and too rare

At the time of the events, the young woman did not inform her management, for fear of not being listened to. The Poitiers University Hospital was able to consider the seriousness of the complaints. For two years, a procedure has been in place to allow staff to alert management of acts of discrimination, harassment and gender-based violence in the professional context. But according to Sandrine Bouichou, president of the national nursing coordination union, sanctions are still too slow and too rare. According to the association Donner des ELLES à la santé, during their career, 8 out of 10 women have already been discriminated against in the hospital environment because of their gender.