Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of chronic illness, pain, and maternal mortality.
Exploring the gaps in women’s health research and why it’s time to prioritize women’s healthcare.
In an era where women’s bodies are constant headlines and hot topics in politics, you’d think there would be more research on women’s health. In reality, we’re not even close.
Despite decades of medical advancement and discovery, we still know so little about how women’s bodies work, how diseases and conditions affect them differently, and why so many women continue to live in pain every day. As a public health student, I’ve observed these gaps firsthand. Last year, when I was researching for a class project on reproductive healthcare deserts in rural Texas, I was shocked by the lack of women’s health research.
Women are the backbone of our society. When women are healthy, families are stronger, workplaces are more productive, and our society thrives. So why has women’s health been neglected for so long?
The WOmen’s Research Gap
Largely, modern medicine research has centered around one type of body: the male body. In 1977, the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration banned women of “childbearing potential” from clinical trials, a policy that was not fully reversed until the 1990s. Researchers worried that women’s hormonal cycles would “complicate” data, so they simply left them out.
Consequently, men’s experiences are the default for medical research, while women are often invalidated. For instance, heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S., yet women are 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed after a heart attack. Symptoms like shortness of breath, nausea and jaw pain do not match the textbook “male” version of crushing chest pain.
During my own research, I noticed the gaps in data and that research on women-specific conditions was difficult to find. In many studies, recommendations were often male-centered. It was frustrating to see how much bias has affected healthcare research, especially on crucial topics such as reproductive health.
As a result, women’s pain often gets ignored. Conditions like endometriosis, which affects an estimated 190 million women worldwide, can take up to a decade to diagnose. Additionally, polycystic ovary syndrome, commonly known as PCOS, is a hormonal disorder affecting up to one in five women of reproductive age. It often causes irregular periods, infertility, and metabolic issues, yet it remains widely underdiagnosed and misunderstood.
In my classes, we discussed how women’s experiences of pain and chronic conditions are frequently dismissed or invalidated. Seeing this documented but largely ignored clinically was disappointing.
“Women were long viewed as lesser and more troublesome versions of men, and their reproductive tracts were studied primarily to improve pregnancy outcomes,” said Dr. Jen Gunter, an OB-GYN and author of The Vagina Bible. “This has resulted in inadequate research and education about the female body and in the dismissal of women’s health concerns.”
How Did We Get Here?
For centuries, women’s health has been viewed through a male-centered lens. It’s been politicized and disputed instead of studied. Even the 19th-century term “hysteria,” which is used to describe everything from mood swings to chronic pain, is derived from the Greek word for uterus.
Today, women’s health issues are largely politicized. Women are constantly involved in conversations about their bodily autonomy and their right to accessible reproductive healthcare, such as contraception and maternal care. To draw a picture, the United States has a maternal mortality rate of 18.6 deaths per 100,000 live births, a figure alarmingly close to the 20 per 100,000 seen in some developing countries. Black women face a significantly worse rate of 50.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, which is more than three times the rate for White women (14.5).
Learning how Black women are disproportionately affected in healthcare made it more evident to me how urgent this issue is. Investing in women-focused research could make an imperative difference for marginalized women.
Where Do We Go Now?
But here’s the good news. Things are beginning to change. In July 2025, the NIH updated its guidelines to emphasize the inclusion of women, racial and ethnic minority groups in clinical research. Initiatives from organizations like WHAM!, known as Women’s Health Access Matters, are pushing for gender-specific research funding.
Though we are at a political standstill on research, breaking the silence and starting more conversations about women’s health can still help to form a better understanding of their experiences. My own work studying reproductive healthcare deserts showed me just how much more needs to be done.
So let’s encourage more conversation about pain, periods, fertility, and other issues that have long been ignored. When we start to share our experiences and ask questions, we can start to demand better.
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