Equity Party!

Futures Research | Participatory and Inclusive Design | Health Equity

The Future of Gender Inclusive Medical Research

RCA | MDes Design Futures | Independent Research Project

The World Economic Forum and McKinsey declared that though women live slightly longer than men, 25% of their lives are spent in debilitating health. And I suppose, living in a world where male biology is set as default, this makes sense. Historically, women have been seen just as reproduction vessels so our health either revolves around how we give birth to the baby or we’re seen as biologically smaller men. It’s not like we have different hormonal cycles, anatomies or menstrual phases that affect our bodies and how medical and healthcare work on us (ha!).

To put it simply, there is just not medical research on women’s bodies.
Not enough research on gynaecological issues other than reproductive care, not enough research on conditions that have different diagnoses to us or affect us disproportionately. Various studies have shown that women do not always receive equal healthcare to men and that outcomes for women are poorer than those for men. No research equals bad policies, bad policies equals low social determinants of health, which means lack of opportunities for women, lack of representation of women in science (and other other fields) which leads to lack of medical representation and research on women’s bodies. It’s a vicious cycle and more complicated than it looks.

Hence, I started research on the medical systems. Turning my feminist rage into investigating the why’s, what’s and why not’s of the Gender Health Data Gap and helping me understand, what is really stopping science from catering to 50% of the world’s population in 2024.

This project was sort of an auto-ethnography as I, discovered the gaps in the medical research world and experienced it myself. It is a very, very, VERY passionate letter to every funder, researcher, government and human to better cater to women’s needs.

Collaboration is key for a gender-inclusive life cycle. This project was a culmination of mobilising the healthcare industry and its stakeholders, building an advocacy community and generating awareness amongst the sisterhood to make the system work for them rather than the other way around.

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