HEALTH SEXISM HAS TO STOP!
Gender inequality is rife in hospitals, research labs and GPs’ surgeries throughout the UK. Here at healthy, we want more done to redress the balance
WORDS LAURA POTTER
Photographs John Frost Newspapers, Masterfile
BEHIND THE HEAD LINES
healthy campaign #FEELOURPAIN
Women wait longer in A & E than men. The UK is no longer one of the top 20 places globally to give birth. Endometriosis takes an average seven years to be diagnosed. It’s a topic that we at healthy have been concerned about for ages, but after several alarming stories about the gender disparity in health over the last 12 months, we’re lobbying Whitehall to finally address the issue. The good news is that last June saw the launch of a new All- Party Parliamentary Group on Women’s Health to help women get the best treatments for them. But why is women’s health still suffering in the first place?
‘The 2006 Equality Act means public bodies have a duty to promote gender equality,’ says Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women’s rights. ‘That includes health, but nobody’s taken that duty seriously and it’s not enforced, so we’re relying on those who run services day-to-day to improve health outcomes. But doctors and nurses are already fire fighting under pressure. Change needs to come from the top.’