Until 1993, clinical drug trials were not required to include women in studies. It has only been 30 years since all drugs in the United States have been produced and sold to women with knowledge of how the substance might affect their bodies.
The trend of underrepresentation in health and medicine studies persists today. According to the Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, of 5,261 publications from 2014 – 2020, only 34% of the roughly 12.5 million participants were women. Only 6% of the publications focused on women exclusively.
The Kaiser Family Foundation published a 2022 report stating that women consistently have a higher health expenditure than men, meaning women have more frequent healthcare needs, and therefore have greater healthcare expenses than men on average.
The reason for the higher health expenditure can in part be attributed to a woman’s greater likelihood of contracting chronic illnesses such as arthritis and depression.
However, the majority of healthcare disparities between men and women come from health issues biological males simply do not encounter, such as the use of contraceptives, maternal care, and other regular procedures restricted to female bodies, such as mammograms and pap smears.
If women as a whole have more health care concerns, visits, and expenses, it is imperative we understand the processes of the female body at least as well as we do men.
Hormonal cycles are an especially pressing health issue that need to be further studied in both males and females. The American Psychological Association (APA) states there are discrepancies over the findings of male cycles, with some sources noting slight changes over a day, month or seasonal period. Regardless, in most men, it is agreed upon that testosterone levels peak in the morning, and gradually decline through the day in alignment with circadian rhythms.
Female cycles are far more dramatic, according to the APA. Given this information, it makes sense that studies are more likely to exclude women’s participation for the sake of time, energy, and money-saving purposes.
The primary female sex hormones, progesterone and estrogen, fluctuate over roughly a 28-day period. We know hormone levels affect well-being, but we still have yet to find conclusive evidence on how exactly these hormones broadly affect women’s energy, sleep patterns and eating habits, and thus every aspect of her mental and physical state, as a whole.
“Cycle syncing” has taken social media by storm, claiming that eating certain foods or doing certain tasks during a given phase of the cycle may increase productivity and well-being. In theory, the concept is great– it allows women to counter fatigue, irritability, lack of concentration, social withdrawal, anxiety, or any number of symptoms felt during pre menstruation or any of the four phases. Yet, the science truly does not exist to be conclusive and applicable to a wide variety of women.
If women do not have a complete and comprehensive understanding of the functions of their bodies that greatly impact mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing on a week-to-week basis, how can we ever truly be expected to be on an equal playing field as men?
This Women’s History Month, I am amazed at how far women have come despite a history of societies that have given so little regard to their biomechanisms, and systems they faced that quite literally worked against them.
In 2023, it is time that we provide women with the information they need to put themselves on the same footing as male counterparts, not just in terms of understanding health, but utilizing that knowledge to promote better well-being across the board in all aspects of life.
It is not a matter of equality, rather one of equity, in which we recognize the different needs of different genders to provide everyone the opportunity to reach an equal outcome both in personal and professional life.
