We live under a patriarchal system in which men hold the power and privilege and women are marginalized and oppressed at every turn. This worldview pervades every area of society, and the medical field is not exempt. Gender bias in healthcare ranges from microaggressions to life-threatening misdiagnoses and more. Let’s talk about how sexism in healthcare affects patients, the common ways it manifests and its significant implications.
Examples of sexism in healthcare
Here are some ways that the medical industry favours men over women.
Clinical trials
Women and non-white people have long been underrepresented as patients in clinical drug trials and medical research. Further, when it comes to research, medical research proposed by women for women is not allotted the same funding as medical research proposed by men for men. The assumption has long been that what works for men will work for women, an erroneous and catastrophic assumption. There are drugs that have been recalled because they have adverse side effects that occur in women and not men. Research including women is viewed as being too complicated and expensive because there could be variations based on things like where a person is on their menstrual cycle.
Misdiagnosis and late diagnosis
Diseases manifest differently in men and women but medical research has long focused on male patients and exempted women. This leads to a situation where women are often misdiagnosed or it takes longer for them to be diagnosed and they have to push longer and harder for that diagnosis. For example, women are typically diagnosed 2.5 years later for cancer and 4.5 years later for diabetes. Overall, women are diagnosed later than men in more than 700 diseases. For diseases where early diagnosis leads to a better prognosis, this is catastrophic.
Disbelief in symptoms
Doctors often disbelieve women and dismiss their symptoms. One study found that doctors are more likely to treat a woman’s pain as a product of a mental health condition rather than a physical condition. Many healthcare professionals believe that women exaggerate their pain and this remains true even when the doctor is female.
Women with chronic pain are viewed as emotional or hysterical. Men are also more likely to be tested and treated for physical and neurological conditions whereas similar symptoms in women are treated as psychological problems. This dismissal means women often don’t receive the medical care they need prolonging their pain and suffering. Women are often also not referred for important procedures like surgery, medication, and pain clinics. Women are also less likely to receive narcotic medications to deal with intense post-op pains and instead more likely to have sedative drugs prescribed.
This refusal to believe women leads to gaslighting. Gaslighting is a phenomenon wherein someone manipulates you into feeling that you cannot or should not trust your memories, feelings and senses.
Appearance
In the case of intra-group discrimination, pretty privilege is alive and well in the medical field. Women who are conventionally attractive are more likely to receive attentive care than women who are considered less attractive.
What to do
Prioritize your health: society socializes women to put everyone else first, especially married women with children. Women are more likely to skip preventative care than men who do not have the burden of always caring for others placed on them. Take care of yourself as much as you can.
Diverse doctors: whenever possible go to a medical practice with a diverse medical team including women and doctors of your ethnicity.
Advocate for yourself: don’t allow your doctor to dismiss you and your concerns and if they don’t take you seriously, they should no longer be your doctor. It is your prerogative to get a second, third and even fourth opinion if you think you need it. Keep asking questions until you find someone who listens to you and takes you seriously until you get answers that make sense.
All this injustice leads to abuse, neglect and even death. This is even before factoring in biases linked to homophobia and transphobia. The dearth of research leading to a lack of awareness about how illnesses manifest in women contributes to more suffering and death in women.
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