Table 2.

A Health Worker’s Experience of Non-Consensual Touching, Coercion and Psychological Distress [In-Depth Interview]

I: Can you please describe sexually harassing behaviors you are acquainted with? HW: In my former workplace, I had a male in-charge. I was pregnant at the time. This guy wanted to go in a deep relationship with me. I had heard that he would try to create a relationship with whoever was pregnant in that department. And if the person accepted, he would be in a deep relationship with her. I underwent serious struggles during that time because I had just joined the system. This guy tortured me. In my third trimester, he said to me, “you are here and pregnant- you have come to work for a few months and you will go for your maternity leave, now what do you want? It was better for you to first deliver your baby before starting work.” I was clueless on what action to take because I was a contract worker under the MOH. But what hurt me most was that this guy wanted me in the TB ward despite my low immunity as a pregnant woman. He wanted me to get exposed to so many things. Yes, I had to work, but there are some occupational hazards you are exposed to in the workplace. Another challenge was that after delivering my baby, this guy wanted me back at work before the end of my maternity leave because I had combined maternity leave with annual leave. He wanted me to work and did not want to give me time off to care for my baby. I was very weak. I couldn’t stand for so long and I couldn’t sit for so long I: Had he ever proposed to you? HW: Yes, he did. Actually, the way he could harass me like he would come and touch me I: Touch where? HW: He would touch my bum. When I resisted, he tortured me. He made sure that I didn’t attend any workshops. Yet colleagues, who started the job at the same time as me, went for workshops and outreaches. Whenever I requested to attend an outreach in order to gain some knowledge, he would say, “No, you cannot go.” But my pregnant coworkers and coworkers with new-born babies attended the workshops