Did you know 2 in 3 women report experiencing medical misogyny?

We don’t often hear about women’s experiences in the healthcare system. Yet, in Australia’s first #EndGenderBias survey, 2 in 3 women reported health care-related bias and discrimination.

Most commonly, this gender bias referred to a woman’s process with diagnosis and treatment. Many reported feeling disbelieved, given insufficient treatment, and being stereotyped as ‘hysterical’. Often, their pain symptoms were reduced to menstruation, lifestyle factors, or even ‘faking it’.

Women’s experiences are dismissed

Have you ever felt that your concerns weren’t being heard by your doctor? For generations, many women have described a common experience in healthcare: their pains and concerns are minimised, or not taken seriously.

Discrimination in this way is not obvious - that is why most people are unaware of it.

It shows up subtly, through assumptions that women are “overreacting,” that symptoms are caused by stress or anxiety, or that certain conditions are simply “normal” parts of being female, such as menstruation or menopause.

Facts:

  1. Endometriosis diagnosis has an average delay of 7 years

  2. Women are up to 7x more likely than men to have a heart condition misdiagnosed and be discharged during a heart attack

  3. Up to 1 in 3 women may face misdiagnosis of menopause-related symptoms.