Medical misogyny is forcing women and girls to endure years of pain, a new report reveals

Woman with period pains

Credit: Getty

Strong Women


Medical misogyny is forcing women and girls to endure years of pain, a new report reveals

By Lauren Geall

3 months ago

4 min read

A combination of poor education and the normalisation of pain have led to this point, the report concludes. 


Women and girls across the UK are being forced to suffer with gynaecological pain for years due to a combination of medical misogyny and a lack of education, a new parliamentary report has revealed.

The report, by the Women and Equalities Committee, won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s tried to access gynaecological care in recent years, but it does provide some much-needed validation for women who have been forced to fight the healthcare system to get their voices heard.

As stands, the report says, women with conditions such as endometriosis and adenomyosis are receiving inadequate care due to a “pervasive stigma”, “medical misogyny” and a lack of education. 

It’s why it can still take years to receive a diagnosis and treatment – delays that are leaving women to struggle with pain and discomfort that “interferes with every aspect of their daily lives” including their education, career, relationships and even their fertility, which becomes impacted as symptoms worsen. It now takes an average of almost nine years to be diagnosed with endometriosis, for example.

At a time when fertility rates are falling – stats released in October show that the number of births in England and Wales fell to a record low last year, despite the number of women of childbearing age being the highest it’s ever been at 12 million – this report highlights yet another reason why so many women are finding it hard to conceive or choosing not to try for a baby.

Part of the problem, the report suggests, is that symptoms such as pain and heavy periods are “normalised”, making it hard for women to even seek a diagnosis, let alone treatment, for the conditions they’re struggling with. 

A woman talking to her doctor

Credit: Getty

And even when women are receiving treatment, they’re often being subjected to painful, trauma-inducing procedures due to a lack of knowledge, training and care, the report adds. These procedures include routine IUD contraceptive fittings, cervical screenings and hysteroscopies.

When putting together the report, the Women And Equalities Committee heard from broadcasters Vicky Pattison and Naga Munchetty – the latter of whom has previously spoken out about her experience of being dismissed by doctors for adenomyosis, which left her in “constant, nagging pain”.

As well as highlighting the issue at hand, the report contains several recommendations about what needs to happen next. With a “clear lack of awareness and understanding of women’s reproductive health conditions among primary healthcare practitioners” being one of the leading issues highlighted in the report, it calls on the NHS to “urgently implement a training programme” to improve the experiences of women and girls. It also recommends that obstetrics and gynaecology become mandatory rotations in training – not an ‘add on’ to which students have to opt. 

This report must act as a wake-up call     

Other recommendations include improving diagnosis time by providing follow-up appointments, increasing the amount of research funding that gets spent on women’s reproductive health conditions and making sure that the NHS website, app and social media provide comprehensive, trustworthy information on a range of women’s health conditions.

“Our inquiry has shown misogyny in medicine is leaving women in pain and their conditions undiagnosed,” said Sarah Owen, a Labour MP and chair of the Women And Equalities Committee. “Women are finding their symptoms dismissed, are waiting years for life-changing treatment and in too many cases are being put through trauma-inducing procedures. All the while, their conditions worsen and become more complicated to treat. This report must act as a wake-up call.”

Janet Lindsay, chief executive of the charity Wellbeing of Women, said the current treatment of women’s periods and pain is “unacceptable”. Responding to the report, she added: “Millions of women and girls suffer with heavy bleeding and severe period pain that disrupts their lives, leading to them taking time off school, work or their caring responsibilities. Instead of getting the treatment and support they desperately need, they’re often dismissed and told it’s ‘just a period’.”  

She continued: “Our ‘Just a Period’ campaign is calling for an end to the normalisation of heavy and painful periods. We want to make sure there is good information and education available for anyone who needs it so that women and girls are empowered to seek the treatment they need and to challenge dismissal from healthcare professionals. We also want to see better menstrual health education in schools, so that women know when and how to seek help and increased funding for gynaecological research. We need to do more to ensure that women and girls are no longer held back by their periods.”

An NHS England spokesperson said: “Too often in the NHS we hear of women whose health concerns have been dismissed, which is why we are taking action to improve services for women, including rolling out women’s health hubs across the country.

“The hubs are giving thousands more women access to specialist support in the community, which not only improves access and women’s experiences of care but also helps to upskill healthcare professionals with a full range of staff working in one place.

“The NHS is also developing a network of women’s health champions made up of senior leaders in every local care system to drive forward improvements in women’s health.” 


Images: Getty

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