What Are The Most Significant Barriers To Women's Health?

By: Sam Barrett

Women’s health and healthcare have been a very popular topics, and heavy debate, for centuries. With circumstances lately, it seems to become more and more imperative that we educate ourselves on women’s health, and why so many people are fighting for it. 

Discussing women’s health does not just deal with Roe v Wade either, it goes further, deeper than that. Women are constantly facing struggles with even everyday primary care. Not only are women facing losing their bodily right to choose, but there are significant barriers that women face every day in the healthcare system.  

What is primary care? 

According to Oxford Languages, “primary care is healthcare at a basic level rather than a specialized level, for people making an initial approach to a doctor or a nurse for treatment or regular check-ups.” Primary care is a form of healthcare used by millions of people and is meant to be accessible and helpful to all. Some common health issues that primary care physicians deal with include; 

  • Wellness visits and physicals

  • Immunizations both for children and adults

  • Treating acute illnesses and injuries–from the flu to broken bones

  • Managing chronic illness and coordinating complex care with specialists

  • Nutrition and weight loss care

  • Pediatric and adolescent care

What are some differences in women’s primary care vs men’s primary care? 

There are many differences in men's and women’s general healthcare. This might seem obvious to some people, but it seems it’s not so obvious as the healthcare system fails to acknowledge the differences. 

Women across the United States are treated with the exact same practices and approaches that were predominantly researched on men but don’t have the same effect on women. According to The Commonwealth Fund, “studies have demonstrated notable sex differences in the prevalence of neurological conditions between women and men.” For example… 

  • Women are twice as likely to develop sclerosis and two to three times as likely to experience migraines. 

  • Cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death among women, often presents and progresses differently in women than it does in men. 

  • Women also have a longer life expectancy, making it more common for women to experience age-related morbidities, disability, and dementia. 

  • Women are also twice as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and are more likely than men to experience strokes that are associated with worse outcomes. 

Although women are expected to meet with many specialty doctors in their lifetime, it is crucial that they have a primary care physician that can guide them through everyday changes and needs, however, most primary care physicians aren’t trained in the specific health needs and differences in women. According to Patient Engagement Hit, “inadequate medical education and training can keep clinicians from understanding the best way to treat the unique health needs women face. Training largely does not address gender, although gender plays a key role in disease progression.” 

Education Barriers

Not only is there a (scary) lack of education amongst our physicians, but there is also a lack of education amongst ourselves and growing teens and children. It is crucial that growing kids learn about their bodies; how they work, what is normal and not, basic hygiene, hormones, etc. However, the education system has consistently failed young kids in understanding the importance of sexual education, and accurate physical education. 

According to a story done by Dana Alloy, a researcher and educator in female and menstrual health, on The HELM; “94 percent of more than 1,400 women failed a rudimentary Women’s Health IQ quiz, according to a recent study, while another survey by INTIMINA found that one in four women could not correctly identify the vagina. The Tampax Period Education Survey found 41 percent of women were not confident that they knew how to insert a tampon, meanwhile a survey by Plan International found 54 percent of women with period-related symptoms (including pain, cramping, headaches, bloating, and acne) thought their symptoms were normal, 13 percent said people told them they were exaggerating, and 27 percent felt embarrassed.”

We are often taught to disregard many female-specific processes, and throughout many cultures and history the female body has been considered inappropriate, gross, or dirty. Women are taught to suppress a lot of natural occurrences in their body. For example; doctors hand out birth control like candy to young women in order to suppress natural processes of menstruation. Women are left feeling ashamed of their bodies, and constantly helpless in many health situations. 

According to Dana Alloy from The HELM, “many female specific ailments, like endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), and vaginismus are woefully under-researched, with their causes and treatments unknown. Women are constantly misdiagnosed and mistreated by both male and female physicians, and the lack of institutional drive to curb this trend is yet another sign of the taboo around female bodies.”

Financial Barriers 

Inadequate education, research, and treatment is just one of the many, huge barriers that women face in the healthcare system. Another one being affordability and accessibility. 

Data recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that healthcare spending is higher for women than for men, especially when they are younger. “Average healthcare spend reached about $3,400 for female patients ages 19 to 34, compared to just under $1,900 for their male counterparts. Although the disparities do begin to close, spending on female health continues to outpace spending for men as they age. Spending for women ages 35 to 44 is $4,700 compared to $2,500 for men. For women ages 45 to 54, spending reaches just under $6,000 and $4,825 for men. Spending is $9,489 for women ages 55 to 64 and $7,850 for men that age.”

With numerous health needs, and then the costs of those needs, women are faced with hard decisions. According to Patient Engagement Hit, “seventeen percent of women have skipped a prescription or cut a drug dosage in half because of high costs.” 

Societal Barriers 

Women all around the US, and the globe, face issues like this, but minority and low-income groups are hit the hardest. Here are some statistics and facts from another Patient Engagement Hit article;  

  • Women’s primary care also comes with a stigma attached and does not do a great job of addressing social determinants of health or inequity and racism.

  • People of color are less likely to receive preventive health services irrespective of income, neighborhood, comorbid illness, or insurance type, and often receive lower-quality care.

  • Women in the top 1 percent of the income distribution have a life expectancy that is 10 years longer than that of women in the bottom 1 percent, a difference that equates to the health impact of a lifetime of smoking.

  • Many women experience language or cultural barriers with their primary care providers, or do not trust their primary care providers or healthcare in general.

This lack of trust is understandable with the way the healthcare system operates, and the lack of support women feel from our government. If only our government and physicians could understand how important female healthcare is to not just half of our population, but economically and socially. Here are some statistics on the benefits of women’s healthcare from The Commonwealth Fund

  • Studies show that, when a mother dies, her children and her community of family and friends experience a decline in health, nutrition, education, and economic outcomes; they also face a financial loss that may take generations to overcome. Given that the rate of maternal mortality is two to three times higher among Black mothers than white mothers, this impact is amplified in communities of color.

  • Women also play an indispensable role in the labor force. They make up nearly 60 percent of U.S. workers and represent 65 percent of the unpaid workforce of informal caregivers for children, elderly relatives, and family members with disabilities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare organizations have depended heavily on women, who account for nearly four in five essential healthcare workers.

  • Good primary health care for women is not only vital for promoting economic stability but also critical to limiting costs across the health care system: 90 percent of national health care expenditures are attributed to treating chronic and mental health conditions, both of which significantly impact adult women.

We have gone far too long as a society without the proper education and care for the female body. There is a lack of funding, a lack of representation, and a lack of education across the board. Primary care for women has been weakened as our bodily rights become more and more politicized. If we want to improve our healthcare system for all, we need to start with women.

W4C