Silent medical issue facing ALL Australian women as experts reveal why female patients don’t always get the same treatment as men: ‘When women say they are in pain they are taken less seriously’
- Pharma brand Nurofen’s ‘Gender Pain Gap’ report was released in November
- More than half of women said their pain was dismissed when seeking healthcare
- Australian government last week announced a plan to tackle ‘medical misogyny’
Women are at a greater risk of severe health complications because of ‘medical misogyny’ and the ‘gender pain gap’ – issues the Australian government has vowed to fight.
A National Women’s Health Advisory Council will be developed by the Labor government to examine women’s biological risk factors for major diseases and address other overlooked or dismissed conditions.
The council will look at healthcare offered to women and girls for menstruation, reproductive health, and menopause as well as for diseases such as cancer, autism and heart disease – which is often considered a male issue but is the biggest medical killer among women.
There is under-diagnosis and under-treatment of women for cardiovascular disease – they are three-times more likely to suffer a heart attack than men – and prevention strategies are overwhelmingly tailored towards men, according to non-profit Her Heart.
According to a recently released ‘Gender Pain Gap’ report by Nurofen one in two women had their pain dismissed by medical professionals (stock image)
‘Medical misogyny doesn’t mean that doctors are sexist… it means there is a historic gap in knowledge about women’s health and women’s bodies,’ The Guardian’s Gabrielle Jackson told The Project in a segment airing on Sunday.
‘Modern medicine hasn’t studied females nearly as much in animals, in cell lines – up until the 1990s women weren’t even included in human clinical trials.’
The council will be led by Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Ged Kearney, who will consult with the nation’s eminent women’s health experts, organisations, consumer groups, and medical and professional bodies – including hearing the direct experiences of women.
‘It is completely unacceptable that a young girl suffers ADHD symptoms without diagnosis for potentially years longer than a boy her age. Or a woman has her crippling pelvic pain repeatedly dismissed, only to find severe endometriosis.’
‘In Australia no one should fall through the cracks when it comes to safe, high quality and affordable healthcare. It’s happening too often for women and we need to find effective ways to address the problem.’
Deputy Managing Director of Future Women, Jamila Rizvi, last week took to social media to explain pharmaceutical brand Nurofen’s recently released ‘Gender Pain Gap’ report in a clip which went viral.
According to the report one in every two women who sought healthcare for pain reported it as having been ignored or dismissed because of their gender.
Jamila Rizvi (pictured), Deputy Managing Director of Future Women, told the project serious conditions such as endometriosis were often under-diagnosed
‘I’ve been overwhelmed by hundreds and hundreds of women sharing their experiences about this with me online this week,’ Ms Rizvi told the program.
‘Stories about women being told to just take Panadol or women who were in pain while pregnant and were told ‘that’s just how it is’ but something actually turned out to be really wrong for them’.
‘That gender pain gap is when women say they are in pain they are taken less seriously and the results is some conditions like endometriosis have gone undiagnosed for decades.’
The members of the National Women’s Health Advisory Council will each serve an initial three-year term and provide policy advice directly to the government.
A key role for the new Council will be to guide how the Government delivers on the National Women’s Health Strategy 2020-2030
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