Representation in medicine
Science determines how - and how long - we live our lives. The likelihood of us being born without injury to ourselves or our mother is often entirely dependant on the skill and knowledge of the medical professionals in the room with us. The problem is - scientific research isn’t representative nor inclusive.
Just one startling example from the BBC: Black women are nearly four times more likely than white women to die within six weeks of giving birth, with Asian women 1.8 times more likely, according to UK figures for 2018-20. (BBC, 2023)
It isn’t only in the maternity wing that our identity can determine our life expectancy. The Gender Data Gap is fatal for women in many ways. We’ve picked two examples (from this amazing book) to demonstrate how lack of research into women’s bodies can lead to terrible consequences.
1. Female Crash Test Dummies
Women are 47% more likely to be seriously injured in a car crash and 17% more likely to die than men.
This statistic is evident of a wider problem in which women are not accounted for when it comes to safety testing, even today, female crash test dummies are not required by law and are rarely used, resulting in cars being much less safe for women.
The few female crash dummies that do exist are weighing only 47kg and are 4”11 in height, this is the average body size of girls aged 12-13.
2. Misdiagnosis of heart attacks
Women are more than twice as likely to die after a heart attack than men.
There is a historical bias and knowledge gap regarding heart disease in women. The focus of medical research and public health campaigns has primarily been conducted on men.
There is a growing recognition of the need for gender- specific research among the medical field.
The reasons for misdiagnoses among women mainly come down to the lack of research into how it presents in women, here are some of the factors of misdiagnoses of heart attacks in women:
Symptom presentation: Women often experience different symptoms during a heart attack to men. While men commonly have what is considered the classic symtpoms such as chest pain or discomfort, women may experience ‘atypical’ symptoms such as shortness of breath, nausea, back or jaw pain and flu- like symptoms.
Underestimation of risk: Women’s heart attack risk factors may be overlooked. Traditional risk factors like high blood pressure and smoking apply to both genders, but certain risk factors are unique to women, such as pregnancy complications, hormonal changes and autoimmune diseases may not receive enough attention.
Diagnostic tests: The diagnostic tests used to confirm a heart attack, such as ECGs and stress tests were originally developed on and for the male population.
Simone de Beauvoir put it most famously when in 1949 she wrote, ‘humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself, but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being. He is the Subject, he is the Absolute – she is the Other.’
We’ve had enough, so we’re shining our spotlight on representation, justice and equality.