Women's Health: The Cost of Being Unheard
Why Women's Health Is Still an Equity Issue
Women’s health care starts long before treatment is considered. It starts with how women, our bodies, our labour, our value and our compliance are considered, stereotyped and measured by a society which has centred men, as patients and as decision makers.
For decades, research, policy and service design have been shaped around male bodies and male experiences. We live in a society which shames women for the natural processes of our bodies. Biology is seen as something to be overcome, normalising toxic cultures which establish illness as weakness, poor mental health as a personal failure, body type as an indication of healthiness and denial of practical physical needs championed as strength. Our systems encourage women to feel ashamed of our bodies, our biology and discourage us from speaking openly about our experiences even with each other.
This has contributed to women experiencing compounding issues related to delayed diagnoses, under-recognition of symptoms and poorer outcomes for women across a range of health conditions, age groups and locations.
Few conditions illustrate this more clearly than endometriosis. Early research on the condition centred men, with one study assessing if women with endometriosis were prettier than the national average and another focusing on the impact on male partners of women with endometriosis.
Endometriosis affects approximately 1 in 10 women and those assigned female at birth of reproductive age, yet the average time to diagnosis in the UK remains close to nine years. During this period, many individuals report pain being minimised, symptoms being normalised and concerns being dismissed.
The 2024 Women and Equalities Committee Inquiry into Women's Reproductive Health Conditions concluded that women and girls with conditions such as endometriosis, adenomyosis and heavy menstrual bleeding often have their symptoms normalised or dismissed. The report found that many are left to "suck it up" while their conditions worsen.
These medical responses were reflected in my own experience, where I knew I had endometriosis based on my symptoms, research and family history but treatment pathways at the time were looking for cancer. When my results showed I did not have cancer, I was discharged with no further treatment plan, support or care strategy. Leading to years of escalating symptoms before extensive surgery, which was again followed by very little health care support.
The impact of this approach extends beyond the direct impact on an individual’s health.
Delayed diagnosis can affect:
Employment and career progression
Education and training opportunities
Financial stability
Fertility and pregnancy
Additional complex health needs
Mental health and wellbeing
Relationships and family life
Social engagement and friendships
Additional financial burdens, including accessing private health care
The challenge is not just diagnosing and managing the condition itself. The bigger challenge is addressing what happens when systems fail to recognise and respond appropriately to the health needs of half of the UK’s population.
My diagnosis of endometriosis was only confirmed after my hysterectomy. Even though I had symptoms since my 20s, two previous smaller surgeries, two other related medical interventions, I had made efforts to share my family’s medical history and provided copies of research which showed my symptoms were probably linked and not separate experiences of ‘extreme menstrual discomfort’. By the time I had surgery in my mid-40s, the endometriosis had spread to multiple organs and required extensive surgery.
The Cost of Not Being Believed
Many people living with conditions like endometriosis describe a common experience:
"I knew something was wrong, but nobody listened."
This reflects a broader issue within health systems. Women continue to face significant barriers to diagnosis and treatment, with 60% of women surveyed by Benenden Health saying health issues are not taken seriously in the UK. When symptoms are repeatedly dismissed, individuals can lose confidence in their own judgement and become reluctant to seek support. After a decade of being sent in circles with no solutions, I had stopped reporting my increasing symptoms to my GP. I felt there was little point as they took no meaningful action beyond suggesting I have a few days off and take some pain relief.
Research increasingly highlights the impact of diagnostic delay, particularly among women, disabled people and those experiencing multiple forms of marginalisation. Research has started to recognise patterns of medical dismissal and disregard of lived experiences as anecdotal rather than evidence, which compounds the impact of delayed diagnosis, with absence of treatment options and increasing disengagement with health care professionals.
An ITV investigation recently discovered that UK medical universities may offer trainee doctors as little as one hour of lectures on the menopause, demonstrating why so many women are struggling to access appropriate support. When put into perspective, menopause is a health-related experience which affects half the population. While it is true that many women navigate menopause with minimal detriment, for growing numbers of women of all ages, the transition into menopause and other women’s health conditions are causing irreparable damage physically and mentally, to self-image, relationships and ability to safely and healthily engage in daily life.
The concern for me started with the reflection:
“If someone like me, with confidence, a practical grasp of health care, reasonable understanding of my own symptoms and good communication skills, is struggling to access the correct care or even be heard by medical professionals...
What does that mean for people who cannot advocate for themselves effectively?”
We know that access to specialist care remains a persistent challenge. Highlighting the need for wider discussions around safeguarding, equality and anti-discriminatory practice within health care.
Many medical services fail because they ask the wrong question. Instead of focusing on
"How do we improve treatment?"
The NHS, medical universities and health care practitioners need to start asking
"How do we create systems that listen and respond to women’s experiences holistically, instead of focusing on our own interpretations?"
My health care pathway was significantly improved by having two global majority women on my surgical team. The first thing they did was listen, and post-surgery one of them told me she had done her “very best stitching to reduce my scarring as much as possible”. But once I was back home, my experience of aftercare was exhausting and infuriating (adding to my surgical menopausal symptoms), being bounced from one disinterested medical professional to another for months. Until I was able to sit down for an extended appointment with a newly qualified woman GP who took my experiences seriously and actively advocated for me to have agency in my long-term treatment plan.
The lack of representation in the medical profession in the UK is well documented, with NHS trusts across England demonstrating poor diversity across the majority of senior positions (grade 6 and above). Having women doctors and medical professionals is not the sole answer but it is an important factor in addressing health inequalities. While senior positions across hospitals and medical facilities are predominantly held by men from the dominant culture, decisions about women’s health and medical priorities will continue to be made without women’s perspectives being heard.
Women's Health Inequalities Are Not Experienced Equally
Recent UK research highlights substantial differences in outcomes based on ethnicity, disability, deprivation and geography. The impact of intersectionality is not surprising but it is shocking that the ongoing impact is only just being formally explored.
The renewed Women's Health Strategy for England states that:
Women in deprived communities experience poorer health outcomes
Disabled women experience greater barriers to healthcare
Women from some ethnic minority communities are less likely to feel heard and more likely to experience poorer outcomes
Health-related intersectional inequality can cause additional harm in a variety of ways, from mismatched treatments for people with additional health complications to a serious lack of healthcare professionals who specialise in women’s health, not just doctors but support staff from dietitians to physiotherapists. This lack of knowledge regarding women’s health continues to cause poor outcomes for women navigating healthcare systems.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) reports that women living in the most deprived areas experience shorter life expectancy and increased maternal health risks. Persistent inequalities remain across access and pathways to reproductive healthcare based on geographical location, professional awareness and varied referral processes. In 2025, the RCOG reported that nearly 580,000 women were waiting for gynaecological care in England, while many more are still fighting to access specialist assessment before being able to obtain a diagnosis and support.
There is still a great deal of medical misogyny and ableism (disability discrimination) in health care services. Outdated bias and assumptions lead to male perspectives determining women’s health treatment and approaches. From cervical screening clinics held between 2-4pm, when many women are busy doing the school run, to a surgical consultant asking my husband how he felt about me having a full hysterectomy, as if
a) my life-saving surgery could be put on hold if hubby felt we should have more children
b) I wasn’t a capable adult able to advocate for myself and make my own decisions,
c) they hadn’t just spent 10 minutes explaining how my results showed that the growths were spread through my abdomen and would require extensive surgery to be effectively removed, including bowel reconstruction
Of course, my husband responded by saying his only concern is that I am provided the treatment and care required to get me back to being healthy as soon as possible. Shutting down the consultant by asking him if he would ask a wife of a patient how she felt about her husband’s life-saving surgery. The surgical consultant didn’t answer and moved the conversation on.
However, knowing that my lead surgeon expressed gender inequality in such a comfortable and casual way, left me with concerns about how that bias might play out during operations.
The Gender Health Gap Extends Beyond Reproductive Health
The risks of the gender health gap are not confined to reproductive health. A 2024 commentary in The Lancet argued that women's health across the UK is declining, with women spending a larger proportion of their lives in poor health than men. The authors noted that policy attention has historically focused heavily on reproductive health while broader issues such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and mental health have received less attention, with real-world impact on women’s treatment. Including outcomes for women experiencing cardiac incidents, symptoms of heart attacks are experienced differently from those of men; medical professionals have been trained to look for symptoms as they are experienced by men. Leaving many women to suffer more serious long-term health outcomes due to diagnostic inequalities.
Current systems built around male biology feed into societal power imbalances and denial of women’s health autonomy. It also highlights the wider challenges of inequality in society regarding how resources are allocated and whose needs are prioritised. The flow of new evidence reinforces the need for an intersectional approach when addressing equitable strategies for a healthy society.
What Organisations Can Learn
Women's health should not be viewed solely through a clinical lens. Women’s health affects all of us across every aspect of society and daily life. From workplace absences to additional family care responsibilities, there are economic, social, community, mental health, educational and emotional impacts for all of us.
Employers and leaders should consider:
Workplace flexibility
Reasonable adjustments
Menstrual and reproductive health awareness
Inclusive absence management
Psychological safety
The lesson from women’s health research and advocacy is simple:
When people repeatedly highlight something is wrong, ethical practice requires leaders to listen.
Before demanding proof, before dismissing concerns, before derailing the conversation, before recentring the dominant cultural norms, before stating that there are no available resources, before belittling them, dehumanising them or discriminating against them, just listen.
What’s needed
Supporting women's health is bigger than delivering a quick wellbeing initiative for International Women’s Day. It is essential that we all take responsibility for ensuring that workplaces, educational spaces, community provisions and services are actively creating equitable environments where all people can participate fully.
Women’s health outcomes can be improved by the provision of better health education across society, not solely for women but for everyone. Establishing effective health awareness and health literacy through education in schools, colleges, community spaces and workplaces to help integrate a better understanding of health justice from biology to mental health, improving understanding of reproductive health, health rights and skills for health advocacy.
A significant increase in investment for women’s health research and upskilling medical professionals to understand the differing anatomy of women’s bodies, hormones and biological systems are long overdue. With centuries of unequal funding and research favouring men’s health, achieving equitable health outcomes will require new thinking and approaches, which recognise the detrimental impact of long-term disparities in health care outcomes for women.
We can each make a start by sharing information, good practice and advocating for each other. This is also a significant aspect of my advocacy regarding health justice, aimed at raising awareness and forcing improvements to services through community action.
You can find out more about my experiences at the DRose Academy Health Justice Hub.
References and Research
NHS equality, diversity, and inclusion improvement plan
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/nhs-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-improvement-plan/
Renewed Women's Health Strategy for England, Department of Health and Social Care (2026).
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewed-womens-health-strategy-for-england
Women's Reproductive Health Conditions, Women and Equalities Committee Report (2024).
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmwomeq/337/report.html
Department of Health and Social Care Government Response (2025).
Office for National Statistics data show the hidden costs of endometriosis
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, A Work in Progress: Evaluating the Women's Health Strategy (2025).
https://www.rcog.org.uk/a-work-in-progress/
The Lancet, Delivering the Promise of Improved Health for Women and Girls in England (2024).
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01347-3/abstract
Health Survey for England 2024, NHS England (published 2026).
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-for-england/2024
Benenden Health, Gender Health Gap Report 2024.
https://www.benenden.co.uk/gender-health-gap-2024/
ITV News 2026
British Heart Foundation Fighting for better heart attack treatments for women
Recommended Reading
Endometriosis UK - https://www.endometriosis-uk.org/research
Invisible Women: Exposing data bias in a world designed for men by Caroline Criado Perez
All About Love by belle hooks
Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. Davis
Women Don’t Owe You Pretty by Florence Given
The Problem of Social Inequality: Why it destroys democracy, threatens the planet and what we can do about it by Scott G. McNall
