Female healthcare is something that’s widely discussed as an issue today, but why is that and what reasons are there for this. The main issues that come to mind are the lack of research into our healthcare, the dismissal of issues when it comes to menstruation and the lack of education surrounding it. I’ve lost count of how many conversations I have had with different women about the lack of help they receive when going to the doctors about their periods. I’ve had conversations surrounding the lack of support they feel and the amount of times they’ve been dismissed or told to try taking ibuprofen. As if we hadn’t thought of that one already. 

The research gap between female and male health care is undeniable. In an article found in the Guardian from 2019, ‘less than 2.5% of publicly funded research is dedicated solely to reproductive health, despite the fact that one in three women in the UK will suffer from a reproductive or gynaecological health problem.’ Not only is this a huge issue alone, it gets worse, there’s also ‘five times more research into erectile dysfunction, which affects 19% of men, than into premenstrual syndrome, which affects 90% of women.’

It feels like there’s an inequality within female healthcare and reproductive issues. Some would even add that contraception is too often left to the women, the options out there are only for women. Even though these often come with bad side effects it’s something we must deal with. The easy access to contraceptives feels slightly wrong, it feels very much like putting a plaster on a deep cut, it won’t heal the cut but it might hide the bleeding. Often the problem isn’t solved by taking the combined pill every day. In fact, often it can start problems.  

I also believe the lack of education about female healthcare in society doesn’t help. Even women don’t fully know what’s going on in their bodies or what is to come. Due to all the taboos, things like menstrual pain and menopause haven’t been heavily discussed in our society. In an article from 2021 in the Guardian, it was written that  ‘According to a survey of patients in hospital waiting rooms, half of Britons could not identify the urethra, while 37% mislabelled the clitoris – regardless of their gender.’ This offers shocking statistics and seems ridiculous to think that people lack so much knowledge about their own bodies but it’s because we are simply not allowed to talk about it!

Finally, the idea that women have to pay for sanitary products seems unjust. Even with the tampon tax being abolished it still seems unfair that we have to pay for something that, to put it bluntly just keeps us from bleeding through our clothes. If contraceptives are offered for free why aren’t sanitary products also given out? Sanitary products offer hygiene to women when they are on their periods and even if they are only a couple quid – it adds up. Especially in this economy, some people aren’t fortunate enough to afford them.

Ruby Fletcher