The Gender Health Gap
Antonia Jenkinson 11/07/23
More than half the population across the globe menstruates - so why is it so hard to find someone who will take menstrual health seriously?
What is a health gap?
Health gaps are differences in the prevalence of disease, health outcomes, or access to healthcare across different groups.
The UK has the 12th largest gendered health gap globally, and having the largest gendered health gap in the G20. According to Women’s Aid, women in the UK are less likely than men to have a heart attack diagnosed correctly, and are more likely to experience poor mental health. Over 70% of medications used in pregnancy have insufficient safety information due to the lack of inclusion of women in clinical trials. University College London found that women with dementia receive worse medical treatment than men in the same condition; women make less visits tot eh GP, receiving less health monitoring; women in acute pain are also less likely to be given opioid painkillers than men, and have to wait in pain longer than men to receive painkillers after surgery. Women in the UK are being let down by the healthcare system, but why?
Why is there still such a considerable gender health gap in the UK in 2023?
In general, the gendered health gap exists because until 1990, women were kept out of clinical trials and studies. As a result, women are more likely to suffer adverse side effects from medication as drug dosages have historically been based on clinical trials conducted on men. Medical research has been predominantly focussed on how men react to health conditions and solutions, meaning that women are more likely to be misdiagnosed and also less likely to be admitted to hospital. Women in the UK are significantly more likely to be left untreated for pain by doctors than men.
Access to information remains a big barrier in the way of closing the gender health gap. It is often difficult to find detailed information for those with female reproductive system, and as the NHS remains largely an intervention service, not prevention service, opportunities to correctly diagnose are missed. Many women’s specific health services are fragmented and difficult to access, with long wait times and often without achieving proper diagnosis. Less is known about conditions that only affect the female reproductive system, including gynaecological conditions that can have severe impacts on health and wellbeing. For example, on average it takes 7-8 years to get an endometriosis diagnosis. This is typically because research into women’s health has been historically underfunded and underappreciated.
Things are moving slowly in the UK - it wasn’t until 2022 that hymenoplasty (otherwise known as virginity testing) was banned. It is only very recently that more attention to the gender health gap is being discussed, with the current government acknowledging a lack of sufficient support for menstruators in the UK. So what can we do?
The future of women’s health in the UK
What is being doing, and what can we do?
Education of healthcare professions is important, but so are changes in societal attitudes. The public healthcare grant was 22% in 2015, and there has been an 18% decrease in contraceptive spending. A commitment is needed to meaningful funding toward sexual and reproductive health services.
Appointed as Women’s Health Ambassador by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in July 2022, Dame Lesley Regan, a professor of gynaecology and obstetrics, spoke in parliament about the struggles the current government must face in order to close the gender health gap. Identified problems with the current healthcare system include, but are not limited to:
Damaging taboos and stigmas in women’s health prevents women from seeking help and reinforce beliefs that debilitating symptoms are normal.
Over 8 in 10 have felt that they were not listened to by healthcare professionals.
Services for specialty conditions that only affect women are felt to be of lower priority.
Women believe compulsory training for women’s health, including the menopause, is needed to ensure feeling safe.
Nearly 2 in 3 with a health condition or disability said they do not feel supported by current services.
Over half of women have felt uncomfortable about health issues with their workplace.
Lesley Regan had laid out a plan in 2022 to tackle the gender health gap in 5 years. The aims include:
All women feel comfortable talking about their health and no longer face taboos when they do talk about health.
Women can access services that meet their needs met across the life course.
Women will have access to high-quality information and education from childhood through to adulthood.
Embed routine collection of demographic data of participants in research trials to make sure that research reflects the society it serves.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for women experiencing symptoms of the menopause is to be made more widely accessible by reducing costs.
One year on and it is now July 2023. I would offer we participate in a drinking game of ‘every time the government hasn’t fulfilled a promise, take a shot’, but it would be preferable for my job stability that readership isn’t unconscious by the end of the article.
Joking aside, there is still a serious lack of attention regarding the gender health gap, and is still not being resolved. The cost of such flippancy is the lives of women with healthcare issues which could have been easily remedied with access to suitable healthcare infrastructure without prejudice. In 2023, women should feel able to visit a GP, gynaecologist, or any other healthcare professional without the added burden of worrying they are wasting valuable time.
Being sick is already hard enough - let’s not make it harder for women.