Abstract
“I'm interested in women's health because I'm a woman. I'd be a darn fool not to be on my own side.” —Maya Angelou
It has been argued that women have been disproportionately neglected by health systems since Grecian times. Healthcare, much like other facets of society, continues to operate under paternalistic frameworks, using data collected from male biology to inform treatment decisions for women. It is not surprising then, given this historical data gap, that women continue to be failed by an unequitable system. The reality is that women experience poorer outcomes and suffer harm across a range of healthcare issues—from misdiagnoses, late diagnoses, adverse drug effects, and inherent biases concerning pain management. Women are underrepresented in clinical trials and women of color from lower socioeconomic backgrounds even less so. Without clinical trial data on women, we cannot build the knowledge base around a range of diseases that affect both men and women, but even those diseases that just affect women are still poorly understood. This is further compounded by the fact that research into this field is underfunded, and so there is less appetite for scientists to enter this field.
That said, there is some cause for optimism … but as always, the pace of change is too slow. We still do not have enough women in leadership positions in healthcare driving the requisite change, but we are starting to see progress with the growth of female-led FemTech startups coming to the market and flourishing, and more women are appearing on the boards of major pharma and biotech companies. We still need to see more women leading the charge in investment circles to help support the current funding gap that exists for female founders, creating a groundswell of interest in female health that will open the door for more scientists to research areas of unmet need.
Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of death amongst women, but a diagnostic tool for this disease has been until now largely ignored, as it was deemed a silent killer. We know now that this is simply not true. Endometriosis should not take an average of eight years to diagnose, 50% of women should not be getting misdiagnosed following a heart attack, nor should women suffering from a rare disease feel stigmatized or invalidated as they battle through pain in search for a diagnosis.
Precision medicine needs to be gender specific, inclusive, and equitable. We need more funding in basic research on women's health and a 360-degree shift in thinking. It's anathema that I have to even say we should be investing more in women. I hope for a brighter future where my two daughters and all women needn't suffer in silence and that they are listened to without prejudice and afforded the treatment they need. We'd all be darn fools, quite frankly, not to be on their side—it's simply the right thing to do.
