Women make up over 50% of the population, yet their health has been historically understudied and misunderstood. As the “Chief Medical Officers” of their households and the majority of caregivers, women not only make decision concerning their own health but also the health of others, showcasing the reality that women’s health affects the health of everyone. Broader and continued investment in women’s health research is essential to bridging the gender equality health gap and improving the health of us all.

Gender Equality and Women’s Health

Women have fought for gender equality across a wide range of causes, and women’s health is no exception. In the United States, until the 1990s, women were usually treated as “small men” in health care, receiving treatment based on research and studies conducted primarily on males. It wasn’t until 1993 when the National Institute of Health (NIH) passed the Revitalization Act that women and minority populations were required to be included in federal research. 

Treating men and women’s bodies as the same is not gender equality; women’s health is unique from men’s health. For example, in the United States, an estimated 10 million people have osteoporosis—80% of which are women. Women’s risk of osteoporosis increases with age due to changes in hormone levels resulting from menopause. On the other hand, men are 50% more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, which experts believe is due to factors such as hormonal and genetic differences between men and women. 

Not only does biological sex influence a person’s likelihood of developing certain health conditions, but it can also impact treatment. Psoriatic arthritis affects men and women equally, but studies show that medications to treat the condition interact differently based on sex. To learn more a bit more about the role of biological sex in health outcomes and treatment, check out the Society for Women’s Health Research’s (SWHR) Fact Sheet, Understanding Sex Differences in Medical Research.

To best treat each patient, it is essential to understand the sex differences present in health care. The prolonged lack of research on sex differences has limited our understanding of many diseases across the lifespan, and more seriously, created a dangerous gap in our understanding of women’s health. Women make up over 50% of the population, yet our understanding of women’s health lags decades behind. Women cannot be ignored in health care any longer. Closing the gap in women’s health research and achieving greater gender health equality is not only beneficial to the health of women but to the health of everyone. 

Women’s Health and Caregiving

In the United States, women make up 66% of all caregivers and spend 50% more time providing care than men. According to a 2022 American Time Use survey, the value of women’s unpaid caregiving totaled more than $600 billion. 

The caregiving burden is especially prevalent when it comes to certain conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. Over 60% of unpaid Alzheimer’s disease and dementia caregivers are women. Many of these women are balancing caregiving responsibilities with family and work obligations. To understand more about the caregiving burden women face as it relates to Alzheimer’s disease, read SWHR’s Call to Action, Transforming Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis and Care Through Policy.

It is undeniable that women play an essential role in caregiving, but who is attending to their health needs? For women to provide care, they need their own care and support, and knowing more about women’s health – even on a fundamental, biological level – is essential to providing this care. Understanding more about women’s health equips women caregivers with the information they need to make healthy decisions for themselves and for their families. When caregivers are healthy, patients are healthy.  

Women As Trusted Health Care Messengers

In addition to caregiving, women are often viewed as the “Chief Medical Officers” of their families, responsible for making 80% of health care decisions. At the center of community networks, women also play a role in health information sharing, particularly within low-income communities. Given women’s role as trusted health care messengers, they need access to the most recent and accurate information and to tools that allow them to make healthy decisions for themselves and their loved ones. 

When it comes to decisions about immunization, for example, women may face evolving and conflicting information. Consequently, it is important to make vaccine education accessible and trustworthy for all populations. We must empower women with evidence-based vaccine information; learn more about vaccines in SWHR’s guide, Crucial Vaccination Conversations: A Roadmap to Engage Women and Their Communities.

Improving the Health of Us All

In closing, investing in women’s health and women’s health research benefits more than women—it is essential to the health of everyone.

We’ve only recently started understanding the full picture of women’s health, and there is still so much left to uncover. Women are an essential part of our health care ecosystem, so we must support them with better care, deeper researcher, and more effective treatments. It’s not enough to only know about the health of half of the population; better understanding the health of women, of the other half of our population, will improve health for us all.