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Summary
- The gender health gap is the inequality of medical attention and treatment received between different genders due to gender bias in the medical community.
- Women specific conditions take longer to be diagnosed and can also lead to serious consequences.
- Measures such as having a focused women’s health strategy, improving data collection and other actions can help address this challenge.
The gender health gap is the disparity in medical attention and treatment received between different genders and how one’s gender identity can impact an individual’s health.
The UK has been found to have the highest gender health gap within the G20. It takes women an average of eight years to get an endometriosis diagnosis. While the condition affects about 10 per cent of women globally, the medical community still do not know what causes it.
The lack of research surrounding female specific conditions such as endometriosis, vaginismus, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) can thus lead to devastating consequences.
Causes for gender health gap
According to a medical study, women receive up to 25 per cent less pain relief from medical practitioners. The cause for this health gap is due to gender biases, such as the perception that women are too emotional or that they tend to exaggerate their pain. When doctors do not take a female patient’s complaints seriously, it can therefore lead to serious hazards.
The problem is exacerbated across race, sexual orientation and other intersectionalities’ as well. For example, Black women in the UK have 5 times more likelihood of dying during childbirth than white women.
According to the British Heart Foundation, over 8,000 women based in Wales and England died of misdiagnosed or untreated heart attacks, despite the patients trying to report the condition over a period of 10 years.
Moreover, less than 2.5 per cent of publicly funded research is dedicated to female reproductive health despite 33 per cent of British women suffering from some form of gynaecological or reproductive health issue, according to Public Health England.
However, some believe that unconscious bias towards female health may not be the key issue, but that the main reason is that there are not enough women’s health researchers.
Also Read: How Women Healthcare Workers and Scientists Took Up the Covid-19 Challenge
Solutions
One of the ways to address this challenge is by providing more competitive fellowships in the sector and increasing public funding into female reproductive health research that is key to addressing this challenge.
Furthermore, creating more government led action such as the recently announced Women’s health strategy related call for evidence is also expected to help.
Another key aspect is by collecting and also improving data regarding female health. The recent emergence of fem-tech sector companies is aiding in building data about women’s health.
And finally, increasing the awareness about unconscious gender bias in the medical community and providing more training are some other ways the government can
tackle this gender health gap challenge in the UK.
