Women’s healthcare has never been excluded from the list of possibly controversial discussions, whether at the dinner table, political debates across the country, or in the classroom. Even though Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, this topic still holds a large prevalence today, especially after the recent election. The polarity on the subject is shocking, along with the recent revelations of toxins in women’s tampons and menstrual pads not having been tested with blood until 2023.
When considering gender gaps, many think of its presence within economic, political, and educational spheres, but there is a hidden gap that is less spoken about: one in healthcare.
Ranging from research to treatment in the clinical setting, there are prevalent disparities in women’s healthcare—covering both the general and sex-specific health conditions that women may have—compared to that of their male counterparts
In 1977, a policy was created by the FDA to exclude women of “reproductive potential” from Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials. This was in response to a tragedy resulting from the medication Thalidomide, resulting in severe birth defects in thousands of European and Australian women who took the medication for morning sickness. Since then, women were scarcely included in clinical trials until 1993, when this statement was reversed by the FDA, and women were finally mandated by Congress to be included in clinical trials. This was only 31 years ago.
The National Institute of Health’s investment in women’s health research fell from 9.7 percent of total spending in 2013 to 7.9 percent in 2023. This is in spite of an increase in research grant spending from $26.3 billion to $43.7 billion. In 2022, A Harvard medical school study found that in adult psychiatric, cancer-related, and cardiovascular clinical trials, the percentage of females enrolled do not properly represent the proportions of those affected by the disease. Although great progress was made with the inclusion of women in clinical trials, it doesn’t necessarily mean that research focuses on sex-specific conditions that women have. For example, in 2015, there were five times as many scientific studies on erectile dysfunction compared to premenstrual syndrome. However, 90 percent of women experience symptoms of PMS compared to only 19 percent of men suffering from erectile dysfunction. To put this into perspective, 9 out of 10 women will experience PMS symptoms.
When it comes to discussing sex-specific conditions, more research is geared toward conditions with higher mortality rate compared to those that are debilitating. Examples of these conditions are menopause, PMS, endometriosis, and polycystic ovary syndrome.
These conditions are noticeably studied less compared to diseases such as cervical and ovarian cancer. While equally important, women who struggle with conditions such as PCOS and endometriosis have lower qualities of life, as these conditions can cause hinderances to both the work and personal aspects of daily life.
These research setbacks have a large impact on the clinical side of women’s healthcare, mostly when it comes to non-sex-specific conditions, such as heart conditions. For example, it is not well known that symptoms of a heart attack present differently in women, with symptoms such as nausea, shortness of breath, or fatigue. This could be the reason why women are 30 percent more likely to see stroke symptoms misdiagnosed and are twice as likely to receive an incorrect diagnosis after a heart attack. Also, women who express chest pain in the emergency department are less likely to be treated urgently compared to men and wait longer to be seen. It is also important to note that women of color wait longer than White women for evaluation and are less likely to be seen at any given time.
In a TEDx Talk by Dr. Colene Arnold, she discusses how there is a common stereotype when it comes to treating females for pain versus males. The idea that men are strong and women are emotional can impact how they are treated clinically. Many women experience providers who don’t believe them when they express their symptoms or are asked questions that stem from skepticism.
Compared to men, women are often diagnosed later. For example, women are diagnosed with cancer 2.5 years later than males. When diagnosing ADHD, there is a difference of almost six years between diagnosing young boys versus girls. Osteoporosis is one of the few exceptions where women are usually diagnosed first.
Although these statistics seem almost dire, there is still hope. There have been multiple breakthroughs when it comes to healthcare and women’s health, most of which are and will be available to women and girls in lower-middle income countries.
Some of these include:
- The development of one shot-HPV vaccines to prevent cervical cancer
- The invention of a pad that diagnoses post-partum blood loss and results in interventions before postpartum hemorrhage could occur
- Investment in research of new contraceptives, such as a once-a-month-pill
- AI-enabled ultrasounds that accurately identify pregnancies that are high-risk and can estimate gestational age
These issues only skim the surface of the gender disparities present in women’s healthcare. There is still so much more to be said on the disparities when it comes to topics such as race, ethnicity, age, and LGBTQ+ identifying individuals. Looking ahead, we should continue to fight for women’s rights and work to close the healthcare gap. Call for politicians to make changes, donate to foundations that support women’s health research, and never stop calling for change. Let’s build a future where “gender gap” is a phrase of the past.
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