The Gender Health Gap is real.

22. Nov.

You may not have heard about the gender health gap. Still, I guarantee that if you identify as a woman (referred to here as both female-identifying people and people with wombs), then you would have experienced the issues of the health gap in some way or another; either by lack of understanding of your own body by yourself and others, or being mistreated or misdiagnosed by medical health care professionals.

In this post, we will open up a discussion about the gender health gap, which will hopefully help close the gender health gap. We talk about what the gender health gap is, and how it effects people in society, today.

What is the gender health gap?

The gender health gap is essentially a gap in the health of those classified by gender, and it describes how gender identity impacts medical treatment and health. And unfortunately, despite much progress (debatable) in gender equality issues, the gender health gap is still very apparent and actual within society today.

**The effects of the gender health gap.**

Have you ever been to a doctor to seek help with something affecting your life, only to walk out feeling like you aren’t “ill enough” and that you just wasted the doctor’s time? Most women were found to feel like this, with some chronic issues reprimanded as “emotional” or even imaginary issues. Women sometimes leave the doctor’s office with more questions than answers and no pain medication to help relieve symptoms.
And it isn’t the doctor’s fault entirely, but more so the bias of doctors that has been ingrained in them through their medical training throughout generations, even with female medical specialists. Women’s issues such as menstrual health, menopause, sexual health and pleasure are not discussed, even amongst professionals. And this is the issue.

Woman lying on a mattress on her back, with her eyes closed and one arm across her forehead, and another across her stomach. — **Why does the gender health gap exist?**

Men had primarily dominated the medical field since the 15th century, when the first bodies analysed were those of men. Female bodies were excluded as they were seen as too deviant, with the fluctuating hormonal changes causing variations. As a result, the male body became the dominant and defaulted one, representing both genders… despite the female one being so different with these fluctuating hormone levels. And this preference continued and still does continue, with the male body still being the default one used in clinical research. Even laboratory mice used as “standard” have always been predominantly male. The result of this gender preference in research studies ultimately led to a one-size fits all approach, with even drug doses being calculated and administered based on the male body, leading to women taking much higher concentrations than they should be in most cases!

It was only under 20 years ago, in 1993, when the FDA acknowledged gender-based differences as an essential factor to consider in medical research and lifted the restrictions to prevent women from being included in clinical research trials. But even still, women are still vastly under-represented in the medical field, with the majority of trials still not including any sex-based analyses.

Black woman looking very majestically up into the cloudy sky, almost looking like a silhouette. — **It's time to close the gender health gap.**

The lack of understanding of the female human body and women-related issues still affects women’s health and lives today. Women still get medically gaslighted by medical professionals; women still suffer for years with chronic pain and issues; getting misdiagnosed and mistreated, and women are still misunderstood.
And this is why women are now taking matters into their own hands. Female-led fem-tech companies, such as theblood, are paving the way to bring light to the gender health gap and to help close it. Not an easy feat, considering women experience gender inequality when it comes to obtaining funding for such companies…

Nevertheless, these female-led fem-tech companies and the fem-tech field are now revolutionising women’s health by bringing the gender health gap to the forefront, conducting the necessary research and developing the required technologies to help support and treat women-related issues… themselves.

CLICK HERE to read more about what theblood is doing.