[from the article] The majority of our knowledge of health and disease is based on decades of male human and animal research; historically, women were largely excluded from medical trials. Failure to consider sex and gender in health research, by relying on men’s health as a proxy, effectively leaves women’s health to chance.
Without a focus on women’s health issues, we will not understand how their physiology (including menstrual cycles, pregnancy, and menopause) impacts disease susceptibility and treatment. Sadly, even with this gap in knowledge, women’s health research remains greatly underfunded and under-researched.
Dr. Galea worked with the British Columbia Women's Health Foundation to uncover the true realities of research disparities in academia. You can read the report here or download it below!