Social construction of sexual harassment in the post-soviet context on the example of Estonian nurses
Kuupäev
2017-10-23
Autorid
Ajakirja pealkiri
Ajakirja ISSN
Köite pealkiri
Kirjastaja
Abstrakt
Probleemi kirjeldus.
Seksuaalse ahistamise kogemise ulatuse mõõtmine annab riigiti erinevaid tulemusi. Kas sellest võiks järeldada, et ühtedes riikides esinebki seksuaalset ahistamist rohkem kui teistes? Kuigi seksuaalne ahistamine on juriidiliselt defineeritud, on selle tajumine subjektiivne, mis esitab nähtuse uurijatele palju väljakutseid. Selleks, et mõista nähtust sügavuti ja seda just Eesti kontekstis, on käesolevas töös kasutatud kvalitatiivseid uurimismeetodeid. Töö põhineb peamiselt süvaintervjuudel meditsiiniõdedega.
Tulemus ja kasutegur.
Rahvusvahelises plaanis on uurimistöö väärtuslik, kuna näitab konkreetse konteksti, antud juhul postsotsialistliku Eesti konteksti mõju seksuaalse ahistamise konstrueerimisele. Viimane on oluline õenduse kontekstis, kus ristuvad institutsionaalsed ja soolised hierarhiad, mille tähendust oluliselt mõjutab kohalik ajaloolis-ühiskondlik kontekst.
Töös tulevad esile viisid, kuidas ahistamist esitatakse nähtamatu või olematu kategooriana. Seksuaalsest ahistamisest rääkides positsioneerisid õed ennast ühtaegu nii võimu omavate kui ka mitteomavatena. See tegi nähtavaks võimu ambivalentsuse ja dünaamilisuse, millest seni on ahistamise kontekstis räägitud pigem teoreetiliselt kui seda näitlikustatud empiiriliselt.
Analüüsi tulemused näitavad, kuidas naiste püüdlused positsioneerida ennast professionaalses kontekstis võimukana ebaõnnestusid, kuna professionaalset identiteeti oli raske leida. Kontekstis, kus naistel puudub sooteadlik keel, mis võimaldaks neil ära tunda enda võimutust haigla süsteemis, tuginetakse diskursusele, mis Eesti kontekstis võimaldab neil saada osa diskursiivsest võimust, asetades ennast naise positsiooni. Õdede enesepositsioneerimine naisena võimaldab neil hoiduda iseenda asetamisest ohvripositsiooni, mis käib paratamatult kaasas seksuaalse ahistamise ja teiste soolise diskrimineerimisega seotud nähtustega. Uurimuse käigus tehakse nähtavaks viisid, kuidas subjekti positsiooni võtmine võimaldab naisel diskursiivselt positsioneerida ennast võimukana ja vältida ohvripositsiooni. Taotledes professionaali subjektipositsiooni, on õed sunnitud silmitsi seisma võimutusega, enda positsioneerimine naisena on aga üks viis enese võimustamiseks
Study context. Measuring the extent of sexual harassment across countries poses a challenge to researchers. Do the numbers reflect the reality of a particular country or are they related to the public awareness of the issue? Although sexual harassment is legally defined, naming it as such depends on subjective experience which in turn depends on the cultural context that shapes the meaning of sexual harassment. The present thesis seeks to present, on the basis of interviews with nurses, an in-depth exploration of how sexual harassment is constructed within the Post-Soviet sociocultural context. Outcome and value of the study. The present study contributes to the international resreach in the field by demonstrating the role of the social context in the construction of sexual harassment. The context is especially relevant in the profession of nursing that sees the intersection of institutional and gender hierarchies, both of which are influenced by the socio-historical context. The nurses studied positioned themselves as simultaneoulsy powerful and powerless, demonstrating the ambivalence and dynamism of power. The study demonstrated how taking the subject position of a woman enabled nurses to discursively position themselves as powerful instead of taking a victim position. When nurses sought to employ the subject position of a professional, they were soon forced to confront their powerlessness. Thus, they resorted to self-positioning as women as a mode of personal empowerment. This result demonstrates that, when it comes to sexual harassment, the question is not hierarchical power positions per se, but rather the way these positions are being interpreted. In the present study, the nurses interpreted physicians’ sexual advances as an abuse of their power position, assuming that these kinds of incidents do not occur in formally equal occupational positions, i.e. with female physicians. It can be hypothesized that this kind of professional self-positioning is a challenge to many women as social values are reproduced in institutional discourses as well as individual self-positioning. The latter also demonstrates, however, that nurses interviewed are able to negotiate their institutionally disempowered status and to create alternative spaces of discursive and personal empowerment. As nurses are not valued as professionals, they resort to the powerful self-positioning as women. However, by doing so, they put themselves into a paradoxical situation.
Study context. Measuring the extent of sexual harassment across countries poses a challenge to researchers. Do the numbers reflect the reality of a particular country or are they related to the public awareness of the issue? Although sexual harassment is legally defined, naming it as such depends on subjective experience which in turn depends on the cultural context that shapes the meaning of sexual harassment. The present thesis seeks to present, on the basis of interviews with nurses, an in-depth exploration of how sexual harassment is constructed within the Post-Soviet sociocultural context. Outcome and value of the study. The present study contributes to the international resreach in the field by demonstrating the role of the social context in the construction of sexual harassment. The context is especially relevant in the profession of nursing that sees the intersection of institutional and gender hierarchies, both of which are influenced by the socio-historical context. The nurses studied positioned themselves as simultaneoulsy powerful and powerless, demonstrating the ambivalence and dynamism of power. The study demonstrated how taking the subject position of a woman enabled nurses to discursively position themselves as powerful instead of taking a victim position. When nurses sought to employ the subject position of a professional, they were soon forced to confront their powerlessness. Thus, they resorted to self-positioning as women as a mode of personal empowerment. This result demonstrates that, when it comes to sexual harassment, the question is not hierarchical power positions per se, but rather the way these positions are being interpreted. In the present study, the nurses interpreted physicians’ sexual advances as an abuse of their power position, assuming that these kinds of incidents do not occur in formally equal occupational positions, i.e. with female physicians. It can be hypothesized that this kind of professional self-positioning is a challenge to many women as social values are reproduced in institutional discourses as well as individual self-positioning. The latter also demonstrates, however, that nurses interviewed are able to negotiate their institutionally disempowered status and to create alternative spaces of discursive and personal empowerment. As nurses are not valued as professionals, they resort to the powerful self-positioning as women. However, by doing so, they put themselves into a paradoxical situation.
Kirjeldus
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Märksõnad
seksuaalne ahistamine, sotsiaalne konstruktsioon, õendus, meditsiiniõed, postsotsialistlikud riigid, sotsiokultuuriline keskkond, Eesti, uurimismeetodid, sexual harassment, social construction, nursing, nurses, post-communist countries, sociocultural environment, Estonia, research methods