Health looks different for everyone
Accessing optimal health care is a fundamental human right, yet women and gender-diverse people still face deeply-rooted challenges when accessing equitable care from a health system that was never built for, or with, them.
At Women’s Health Victoria, our vision is simple and powerful: gender equity in health.
Gender equity in health is where everyone has equal access to quality healthcare that responds to their gendered needs.
Everyone should have the opportunity to access optimal health and wellbeing, without disadvantage. However, inequity still exists for women across health systems and settings.
These same structures impact health outcomes for LGBTIQ+ communities, people with disability, First Nations people, and people from cultural and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Understanding gender equity in health
Lived experience, research and data highlights a range of ways that gender inequity exists in health settings.
Most health systems and services are not set up to respond to the specific needs of women and gender-diverse people, because they are built on a one-size-fits-all model that primarily reflects male health experiences and medical research that has not included women.
For example, mental health services that fail to consider the impact of gendered experiences, such as gender-based violence, may not provide adequate support or treatment, or may even do further harm. Gender-blind mental health care may miss important context that affects mental health, particularly for women or gender-diverse people.
Gender bias in healthcare is when people are treated unfairly in the health system because of their gender. This bias can affect diagnosis, treatment, research, and access to healthcare services, leading to worse health outcomes.
Gender bias happens because of a lack of awareness, or traditional norms and stereotypes about gender. For example, doctors might not take symptoms seriously because they perceive a female patient as overly emotional.
Women and gender-diverse people have historically been left out of medical research, so treatment and drug doses are mostly based on studies of men. When healthcare workers aren’t aware of the different healthcare needs of men, women and gender-diverse people, it can lead to unfair treatment. For example, heart attack symptoms in women are often missed because the signs doctors look for are based on male symptoms. This can lead to a delay in treatment or misdiagnosis, which can lead to serious health impacts or even death.
Gender bias also affects access to healthcare, with women often paying more than men. Medicare rebates for some health procedures are higher for men, so women end up paying more. Since women are more likely to experience economic insecurity, which makes it even harder to access healthcare.
Medical misogyny is when women and gender-diverse people experience gender-related discrimination or prejudice within the healthcare system. It often results in the neglect, mistreatment, or trivialisation of women’s health issues.
For example, outdated ideas that women can’t handle pain might mean doctors don’t take women’s pain seriously and sometimes attribute it to psychological factors. Studies show that when women are in pain, they often get less pain relief and are more likely to be given antidepressants instead.
Certain health issues like menstruation, menopause, and endometriosis have often been treated as ‘taboo’ and not studied enough. One in three women experience trauma during childbirth, but their concerns are often ignored.
Gender is one of a number of non-medical factors that have a big impact on people’s health and wellbeing and how they experience the healthcare system. Others include things like income, education, job security, food security, housing, social inclusion and discrimination – these are called the social determinants of health. They are shaped by policies, social norms and political systems, and are more important than individual choices when it comes to influencing health outcomes. They can also intersect.
For example, women and gender-diverse people living in rural areas often have worse sexual and reproductive health outcomes compared to those in cities due to having access to fewer local services, higher costs, and a lack of healthcare workers. These structural factors mean they face higher rates of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
What we do
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With your help, we can drive social change, address women’s health needs and promote fair and equitable healthcare for all. No contribution is too small, and donations over two dollars are tax deductible.