The prevalence of sexism and sexual violence reported in this study by medical students at university and on clinical placement is shocking.
If 84% of respondents in this survey think sexism is a problem in medical education, we must all pay attention and act to change it. From the very start of their careers such behaviour is being normalised.
This report highlights the persistence of gender stereotypes continuing alongside the same barriers to reporting that have been described as in previous reports, echoing previous BMA Sexism in Medicine and the WPSMS Breaking the Silence reports.
It is disheartening to read that while on clinical placement students are ‘learning’ that tolerating sexually suggestive comments, from staff and the public, is an accepted part of a career in medicine. Many trusts and NHS organisations publicise a zero-tolerance of such behaviours, but if little more than lip service is paid to that with no consequences nothing will change. Whilst the Worker Protection Act (2023) places a legal obligation to protect workers from sexual harassment, this needs to be extended to students on work placements.
It is all of our responsibility to create a safer working culture for ourselves, our colleagues and our patients. A crucial first step towards this would be in the inclusion of active bystander training for all members of staff in NHS organisations, in primary and secondary care. We know that organisations who permit poor behaviour in relation to sexual misconduct have worse patient-safety outcomes.
We all need to feel empowered to intervene early against so-called low level behaviours, such as leering, sexual suggestive jokes and intrusive questions, because normalising these behaviours enables an escalation of inappropriate behaviours by perpetrators to the more physical and serious misconduct.
Inappropriate behaviour does not only come from colleagues, but unfortunately from members of the public. This is a wider societal issue – but it must be made clear that in accessing healthcare in the NHS such behaviour is not acceptable from anyone, including patients.
While the NHS Sexual Safety Charter also applies a zero-tolerance approach even if the perpetrator is a patient or member of the public, students and staff need to have the confidence in robust reporting processes to raise incidents that it will be actioned upon regardless of the perpetrator.
In this report the power imbalance between students and doctors is evident and clear to see. Power is a key driver of sexual harassment and misconduct. Students, just like doctors, have little confidence in reporting as they do not believe anything would be done, thinking they would not be believed and concerns about the negative impact on their education. These themes are repeated in each major report on sexual harassment in medicine.
But for students there is the additional barrier of frequently not knowing how to report an incident when on placement, which is not surprising given they rotate frequently between primary and secondary care settings, between trusts, and within a trust and therefore have very little time to know who to report such behaviour to.
This report demonstrates the vital need for routes to report to be included for every student at induction on a new placement. I whole heartedly support educational supervisors to receive training on how to signpost and support any student who reports such behaviour to them, and such training should also be extended to educational supervisors of resident doctors.
It is dismaying that, in 2025, there are senior doctors who suggests that the current challenges we all face working in the NHS is due to the number of women now in medicine and imparting outdated sexist stereotyping careers advice. Such individuals must reflect seriously on their attitudes – what place do they have in a modern workforce when around 60% of medical students are women. As this report indicates, careers advice based on sexist stereotypes impacts on future specialty careers choices, which should be a serious concern for those specialties where such comments are more common.
Looking ahead, prevention must be a priority. Medical schools and placement providers need a joined-up approach that tackles incidents, provides support long after a placement ends, and recognises the lasting impact of harassment. Students are calling for an anonymous reporting system — a demand echoed by the BMA. A national anonymous reporting system in place for medical students and throughout all grades of medicine could provide a central, reliable, consistent reporting structure, but it must not be considered to replace employer’s duties to protect its employees from such behaviour.
Change will only come if every part of the system takes responsibility – from universities and trusts, to supervisors, colleagues and patients. Normalising sexism and harassment has gone on for too long; it damages careers, undermines safety, and erodes trust. The next generation of doctors should enter a profession that values them fully – not one that asks them to endure harm in silence. Together, we have the power to make medicine a place where everyone can thrive.
Helen Neary is joint deputy chair of the BMA consultants committee