Once a fringe and radical idea, feminism has since grown in prominence in both academic discourse and mainstream media. The accessible nature of social media has allowed for information on gender inequalities to spread further and become more attainable. One example of this is the concept of the ‘gender wage gap’, which observes discrimination between the median earnings of male employees to their female counterparts and has sparked much public debate. However, it is not just paid work where this gap may be observed. Research within the medical field has emerged, demonstrating a potential gap in the history of how we research various drugs and diseases. Yet, this gap is not exclusive to the historical narrative of medical research and proves relevant to medical issues today.
Given the historical exclusion of women from all degrees of society, such as in political involvement, opportunity to education and certain financial freedoms, it is not surprising that women were similarly excluded from medical research data. Previous thinking argued that male bodies were the norm, whilst female bodies were not. Originating from the Ancient Greeks, it was thought that the female body was simply the male body turned inside out, a ‘mutilated’ or ‘incomplete’ version. Later, researchers also argued that women’s hormonal fluctuations made them difficult, and therefore not worthwhile, individuals to study. Subsequently, any information collected from male patients were simply applied to women too.
However, since then science has proved again and again that sex differences do matter when it comes to medical care. The Institution of Medicine has found that every cell in our body has a sex, meaning men and women differ on every cellular level. This difference is evident in the fact that women are statistically at higher risk for certain conditions, such as autoimmune diseases, arthritis, and Alzheimer’s. It therefore appears obvious that data on men should not be taken to be utterly reflective of women. Yet, recent research continues to show an under-representation of women in medical research. Women make up 30% of those who suffer with gout disease, but only 5.3% of participants in clinical trials. And this under-representation is not just in clinical trials, but funding too. In the UK, funding for male coronary artery disease is greater whilst women suffer more morbidity and mortality as a result of the disease. Research also indicates that women experience poor medical treatment, regardless of this research gap. In US emergency departments, women who have acute pain are less likely to be given opioid painkillers, half as likely to receive painkillers at all, and if prescribed painkillers, are likely to wait longer than men.
Not only do women have problems simply accessing prescription drugs, but once acquired, prescription drugs can also have problematic effects. Due to drug dosages being historically based on predominately male trials, women are more likely than men to suffer adverse side effects. Between 1997 and 2000, 8 of 10 drugs removed from the US market were due to the adverse side effects in women. Furthermore, because symptoms are mainly defined in male terms, women are often misdiagnosed. The obvious example of this being heart issues. Women are less likely to experience the ‘classic’ heart attack symptom of chest pain and more likely to experience breathlessness or nausea. As a result, women in the UK have more than double the rate of death in the 30 days following a heart attack and are diagnosed on an average 7 to 10 years later than men. If women are commonly getting misdiagnosed, the wrong dosage of medicine, or significant adverse side effects, this could lead to a general distrust of the medical profession and will therefore lend to further medical issues remaining undiagnosed.
However, this problem is starting to be addressed. Not only have scientists written research calling out the issue, but politicians are also becoming aware. The UK government published an article on the Parliament website in 2021 stating that it has the 12th largest female health gap and listed various reports and inquiries that are hoping to address it. Research has also started to re-evaluate gender issues that were previously overlooked. For instance, two-thirds of those with Alzheimer’s are women. Previously thought to be a result of women living longer, recent research has instead suggested the significance of hormonal changes at menopause and genetic sex differences. Yet, acquiring the level of data needed to tackle previous precedents and assumptions will take time. As the director of the US Office of Research on Women’s Health stated, “we literally know less about every aspect of female biology compared to male biology”. There is a great deal of historical catch-up to do.