New report shows women are far more likely to be minimized and misdiagnosed by healthcare providers
A new poll from Gallup and Pivotal reveals that over half of women aren't happy with how they've been treated by providers. And it’s impacting more than how we feel.
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When I walked into my six-week checkup following the birth of my second child, I was a wreck. I was underslept and overtouched—like all moms of newborns—but I knew there was a deeper problem. I tossed and turned at night while worrying nonstop about my baby, I spent afternoons on the verge of panic attacks, and I was convinced I had a blood clot in my leg.
I told my doctor. “You did score a little high on the mental health screening form,” she admitted. “But this is the time when baby blues are really tough. Try to focus on sleeping and eating well as much as you can.”
I was stunned. I left the office feeling more lost than when I went in. Was this really just baby blues? Was I not strong enough to handle being a mom of two?
I needed help. So I did what many women in this country are forced to do to get the health care they need: I became my own advocate, researching care options, and calling offices until someone took my symptoms seriously. (Turns out I had a raging case of postpartum anxiety amplified by my until-then undiagnosed Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I got the care I needed because I found an amazing perinatal mental health specialist on my own.)
My experience isn’t uncommon. A recent report conducted by the public opinion firm Gallup and Pivotal, a group of organizations founded by philanthropist Melinda French Gates, revealed that 51% of women report either being minimized, misdiagnosed, or ignored by healthcare providers, compared to 39% of men. Over the past five years, 42% of women say they had to advocate for their health, compared to just 26% of men.
“Honestly, none of this surprises me,” says Jennifer Gularson, PA-C, IFMCP, a board-certified physician assistant at the Osteopathic Center for Healing in Maryland. “By the time many women come to me, they’ve already seen two or three clinicians looking for answers. A lot of them have been dealing with symptoms for months, even years, and still don’t have a clear explanation for what’s happening to them.”
Why the system often fails women
For much of recent history, women were overlooked or excluded entirely from clinical trials meant to advance medical understanding and practices. It wasn’t until 1993 that the U.S. Congress passed a law requiring the inclusion of women in clinical research.
“Women’s health has been understudied for a long time, and that shapes both the evidence we have and how clinicians are trained,” Gularson says. “We’re still living with the consequences of an evidence base that wasn’t built around women’s bodies.”
She points to perimenopause and menopause as a prime example of this failure. “Many clinicians got very little training on this stage of life, and the thinking on hormone therapy and other treatments has kept evolving,” she says.
A gap in knowledge prevents some clinicians from recognizing that poor sleep, anxiety, brain fog, joint pain, low libido and irregular periods might all be connected. “That’s where women start to feel minimized. They come in with five or six complaints that seem unrelated, each one gets handled separately, or they’re told everything looks normal,” Gularson explains.
Another hurdle? Simply believing women. “Unfortunately, implicit biases exist everywhere in healthcare, and the historical dismissal of women’s health concerns as ‘hysteria’ still surfaces in the undertones of conversations and care. This is especially true for women of color,” says psychotherapist Kara Kushnir, LCSW, PMH-C, the founder and Clinical Director of A Work of Heart Counseling in New Jersey.
When women don’t get the care they need, their entire life experience suffers. The survey revealed that 42% of women (vs. 35% of men) say that in the past five years, their health has kept them from doing everything they wanted to do in life.
What moms say about their health experiences
Misdiagnosis can be particularly dangerous for moms because it’s harder for us to get to the doctor in the first place. Women with children were more likely to report that they skipped or delayed health care due to family responsibilities than women without kids (18% vs. 12%).
“Every mom knows the juggling it takes to be at school drop off, succeed at work, and get everyone to that day’s soccer practice or appointment or birthday party. But we don’t talk enough about how the ball that usually gets dropped is hers—her health, her needs,” Gates tells Motherly. “One in six women in our survey said they’ve had to delay their own care because they needed to spend that time caring for their families. That’s a stark reminder that, for women, giving care and getting care are deeply connected, and that, as a country, we need to do better for women on both fronts.”
“Moms find themselves exhausted, navigating a system that feels like a confusing web full of red tape, so many give up,” Kushnir says.
Gularson adds that the postpartum period is when many women experience minimizing that discourages them from seeking additional care. “For newer moms, postpartum symptoms get brushed aside constantly. Exhaustion, anxiety, not feeling like yourself, it all gets written off as ‘that’s just having a baby,’” she says.
The postpartum period can be a hazardous season for women who aren’t taken seriously; more than 67% of pregnancy-related deaths occur after the day a baby is born, with the vast majority of those deaths occurring between one week and one year postpartum.
How to advocate for your health
Many women were either implicitly or explicitly taught from a young age to be quiet, agreeable, and accommodating. It’s time to shed that skin.
“If you feel dismissed, tell your provider, ‘I feel like you’re dismissing what I’m telling you.’ If you feel rushed or unheard, say that too,” Gularson advises.
“If you do not feel well, don’t stop asking for labs, scans, or another provider,” Kushnir adds, revealing that it took her three years and visits to three endocrinologists to finally get diagnosed with a thyroid disorder and an autoimmune condition that were first misdiagnosed as anxiety, sleep deprivation, and a weight problem.
Kushnir also suggests bringing family members or friends to your appointments so they can advocate on your behalf while you’re in the trenches of your symptoms. “Bring someone who can reinforce your messaging and help ask questions when you feel tired, worn down or unheard,” Kushnir says. “We were never meant to do this alone, and historically, women get things done when they work together.”
What’s next for women’s healthcare?
Through Pivotal, Gates commissioned this survey because she believes good health is critical to women’s entire wellbeing. “I want to make sure women can do anything they want to do in society. But if that’s the goal, you actually have to go all the way back and start with their health, because women have to be well to do well,” she told Forbes.
Gates has invested more than $600 million in funding for women’s health over the past two years.
Experts in health care are optimistic about future improvements. “This is an exciting time for women’s health,” Gularson says. “There’s a spotlight on issues that just wasn’t there before. More research is getting funded, there’s more public attention and women themselves are getting louder about what they need.”
While we wait for research and training to catch up, women must continue to shout from the rooftops about our experiences. At least we are now doing it together. “We’re normalizing conversations earlier generations couldn’t have,” Gularson points out. “I think that’s going to lead to better care for women.”
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