Conclusions
If we seek to eliminate VHCW then quality research and theoretical work
must substantiate its underpinnings. Our findings, although not
conclusive, support the need to consider gender as a dimension when
conducting research on VHCW. If we do not do so, gender will continue to
be an invisible and ignored dimension of intervention strategies to
prevent VHCW.6
This is particularly important in a context where there is a growing
feminization of the health workforce in lower-middle- and
upper-middle-income countries, as well as differences between male and
female physicians’ engagement with the profession, potentiating exposure
to violence in the workplace.7
If research supports the hypothesis that VHCW can be construed as GBV,
then the observed prevalence of VHCW might be the result, as referred
above of the “stereotypes, multiple and intersecting forms of
discrimination, and unequal gender-based power relations” associated to
gender inequalities in society that underly such violence. This will
indicate the need to frame policies and strategies against VHCW within a
broader framework to tackle the social, cultural and political contexts
that sanction this type of violence.8-15