Women’s Health: the Final Frontier

Throughout history women have typically been stereotyped as being the child-bearers, and have not received much medical care or medical research beyond the reproductive organs and their functions. A woman’s body contains more than just her ovaries and uterus, but since men are predominantly in the fields of healthcare and research, this stereotype that only the reproductive organs matter continues to perpetuate and plague American women. Women account for 42% of all deaths related to heart disease and heart attacks; deaths caused by cancers have increased exponentially since the beginning of the twentieth century (Kaiser Foundation online). Although these facts are frightening, more frightening is the lack of understanding and treatment. Each year thousands of women live without the necessary healthcare and treatment in order to stay healthy; and most treatment and awareness education for women is geared towards reproduction. The U.S Department of Health and Human Services came out with a report entitled “Women’s Health Issues: An Overview” back in May of 2001. This overview states that “until recently, medical research has largely ignored many health issues important to women, and women have long been under-represented in clinical trials.” The result of this under-representation in clinical trials is that medical doctors give treatments to women as they would to men. This can potentially harm the woman, because women and men are not biologically identical.
Within this report an astounding statement was made regarding the medical treatment of women. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the complaints and symptoms of men are more likely to be taken seriously than of women. For instance, a woman who complains about an itchy throat and a cough will get a less thorough medical