December 1st 2025
When talking about health issues with the women in my life there has unfortunately been a common theme: indifference and a lack of solution. I’ve spoken with my mother about not finding support from GPs for symptoms of peri-menopause, and a friend whose irregular period cycles and symptoms were largely ignored. When assessing healthcare and meaningful access to it in the UK, it’s important to look at the wider landscape that is shaped by the culture, lifestyle and politics of this country. Much access to proper healthcare is hindered by factors including a struggling NHS (which is being underfunded and understaffed), improper education as well as cultural norms. Suffice to say that the reality of and approach to women’s health is a large factor hindering this, affecting 51% of the population and as such must be intently considered.
Women’s health has not been taken seriously enough in the UK, something noted by the Government as recently as 2021: “In recent years, it has become clear that more could be done listening to women’s voices”. Advocates such as Dr Tosin Sotubo-Ajayi and Dr Faye Bate have probed further discussions on TV and social media to bring more awareness to the topic. Specifically, Dr Bate left her position as a doctor to pursue further study at UCL on women’s health, saying that “the system is failing women”, and continues to talk to professionals and other advocates on her podcast, ‘Her Discussions’, and YouTube.
In a survey conducted by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), nearly 100,000 women’s experiences were reported. It found that whilst around 70% of women felt comfortable reaching out to healthcare professionals for certain women’s health issues, 84% felt that they were “not listened to”, and this applied to “all stages of the process”. Women felt that “their symptoms were…dismissed upon first contact with GPs or other health professionals”; they “had to persistently advocate for themselves to secure a diagnosis, often over multiple visits, months and years” and when they did “secure a diagnosis, there were limited opportunities to discuss…treatment options and their preferences were often ignored”.
This only echoes my mother’s experience of having had her symptoms ignored, and my friend’s concern of irregular period cycles leading to no solution.
The survey, ‘Women’s Health – Let’s Talk About It’, was the DHSC’s call for evidence in the “first-ever government-led Women’s Health Strategy for England”. First-ever. Conducted in 2021, it is evident that research and general interest in women’s health, like this investigation, has historically been neglected. However, government response has been increasing over the years. The House of Lords put this topic up for debate in 2021, releasing an article describing various studies on this topic, which led to the call for evidence. Further, a report was released by the House of Commons in 2024, describing issues in accessing diagnosis, accessing treatment and support and highlighting the lower funding for research into medical conditions “that primarily or exclusively affect women [more so than] men”.
A lack of women’s involvement in research is a major player. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists reported that “women are less likely to be invited to, or participate in, medical trials and research”. For example, “approximately 2% of overall public research funding in the UK is dedicated to reproductive health and childbirth, while past research has shown that five times more research is conducted into erectile dysfunction than premenstrual syndrome, even though 19% of men are affected by erectile dysfunction, [and] 90% of women have premenstrual syndrome”.
A lot of indifference can be explained by a lack of understanding and education, fuelled by this inequality in medical research, with studies excluding this part of the population entirely: Irving Zucker, professor of psychology and integrative biology said that “for decades, women were excluded from clinical trials based…on unfounded concerns that female hormone fluctuations make women difficult to study”.
It results in a skewed picture of the complete effects of crucial medicines and serious illnesses for women, whose biology differs from that of men.
Whilst the statistics in the 2021 survey say that many women feel comfortable approaching professionals about such issues, the difficulty lies in the stages after this. Women ultimately do not feel heard. Since the issue commonly stems from progression from this point, what may be the solution here is further education on women’s health for GPs, and the public, which may lie in a push for support for the NHS and education. It is a known fact that underfunding is putting a strain on GP numbers and GPs themselves; as the acting first port of call for many health issues in the UK, should they not be as best equipped as possible? Further education about women’s health needs to be prioritised for both men and women, so that women can best advocate for themselves and women’s health issues are more normalised.
In the 2021 survey, women were asked about the topics that they would like prioritised by the DHSC. These included gynaecological conditions (63%), pregnancy, pregnancy loss and postnatal support (55%) the menopause (48%), and menstrual health (47%). Such topics are recorded to have low understanding and education around them. The survey revealed that “less in 1 in 5 [respondents] have enough information on menstrual wellbeing (17%)”; “around 1 in 7 have enough information on gynaecological cancers (14%)” and ‘less than 1 in 10 have enough information on the menopause (9%)”.
Whilst further training of GPs and education is essential, it stems from a need for further and continued in-depth medical research on women’s health and conditions that primarily affect them.
Since I am focusing on the UK, I haven’t discussed women’s health globally. It’s important to note that this issue is complex worldwide, looking at societies that have achieved less of a gender equality. This lends to a wider conversation on the equality of medical treatment and care for all women who are going to be affected by gender bias, and thus neglected healthcare, menstrual and mental health, notwithstanding the conversations to be had around period poverty.
Written by Keara-Valentine O’Brien
PEaked your interest? Delve deeper into this topic below:
https://yougov.co.uk/health/articles/44643-are-children-being-taught-enough-about-periods-sch
Glossary:
Peri-menopause – Menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels. It usually affects women between the ages of 45 and 55, but it can happen earlier. Perimenopause is when you have symptoms of menopause, but your periods have not stopped. It ends and you reach menopause after not having a period for 12 months. (NHS, 2025)
Obstetricians and Gynaecologists – Doctors in obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G) care for pregnant women and unborn children, and look after women’s sexual and reproductive health. (NHS, 2025)
Gynaecological conditions – those affecting female reproductive systems.
Premenstrual – This is the period before a women’s period. Premenstrual syndrome is the name for the symptoms women can experience in the weeks before their period. (NHS, 2025)
Menstrual – The menstrual cycle is the time from the first day of a women’s period to the day before her next period. (NHS, 2025)
Period poverty – Period poverty is a global issue affecting those who don’t have access to the safe, hygienic menstrual products they need, and/or who are unable to manage their periods with dignity, sometimes due to community stigma and sanction. In some cases, limited access leads to prolonged use of the same tampons or pads, causing infection. (Action Aid UK, 2025)
