Women’s Health Equity

Section Leaders: Dr. Christopher Steele, MD MPH MS, and Emma Kryzanski

 

Introduction

Just over half, or 50.8%, of the United States population is female.⁶ Despite this, medicine and health care in the United States have yet to provide women with the comprehensive, sex-specific care that they need. Rooted in the country’s patriarchal beginnings that have stained institutions, politics, and society for centuries,^3,5 today’s health care system is now attempting to achieve health equity for this population. Compared to their male counterparts, women are more likely to die following a heart attack, more likely to experience delays in emergency care, and more likely to show signs of depression and anxiety.^{1 2}

It falls within the roles and responsibilities of health care providers to actively fight for women’s health equity through their relationship with patients as well as their advocacy for change. The best way to do this is learn the adversities this population faces and ways you can address it clinically. The goal of this curriculum is to demonstrate how policies, practices, and social conditions within the United States impact women’s health and health care, and to prepare health care providers to create equity for women through their practice.

 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, learners will be able to do the following:

1. Summarize how the historical roots of medicine, health care, and research continue to impact women’s health and health care.
2. Describe examples of gender-based health and health care disparities that exist in the United States.
3. Describe different vulnerabilities common to the women population and how they impact women’s health and health care.
4. Identify barriers women face in accessing effective contraception, abortion services, and fertility services.
5. Recognize actions health care providers can take at the both the provider-patient and systemic levels to create health equity for women.

 

Content Materials

1. E. Kryzanski Women’s Health Inequity
2. E. Kryzanski Women’s Health: Reproductive Inequity
3. E. Kryzanski Creating Women’s Health Equity
4. Project Implicit Implicit Association Tests: Gender-Career and Gender Science https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/selectatest.html
5. Leininger WM, Gupta P. One Hundred Years of Women's Suffrage. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2020; 136 (2): 349-353. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000004009. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YDYI-HpvGvpW39sarpPSznFSmyAltALN/view?usp=sharing 
6. Schiebinger L. Women's health and clinical trials. J Clin Invest. 2003;112(7):973-977. doi:10.1172/JCI19993 https://drive.google.com/file/d/10OUR7psBHcxx753jEqKr53adq-k9TP5p/view?usp=sharing 

 

Resources for Patients and Providers

• US Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use: https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/contraception/mmwr/mec/summary.html
• National Abortion Federation Find a Provider: https://prochoice.org/patients/find-a-provider/?fwp_country_search=united-states&fwp_state_search_united_states=ct
• Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinics Near You: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/abortion-access?
• Find your elected officials to reach out to: www.congress.gov

 

Optional Reading Materials

• Warraich HJ, Califf RM. Differences in Health Outcomes between Men and Women: Biological, Behavioral, and Societal Factors. Clinical Chemistry. 2019;65(1):19-23. doi:10.1373/clinchem.2018.287334. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GKMkqY4Ci9YlPWu4GuKdpC7uQwmHzJyT/view?usp=sharing 
• Harleman E, Payne C, Steinauer J, King T, Wheeler M. Chappter 34: Women's Health: Reproduction and Beyond in Poor Women. In: Medical Management of Vulnerable and Underserved Patients: Principles, Practice, and Populations. 2nd ed. McGraw Hill Education; 2016:381-392.
• What health issues or conditions affect women differently than men? Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/womenshealth/conditioninfo/howconditionsaffect. Accessed July 13, 2021. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/womenshealth/conditioninfo/howconditionsaffect 
• Sharma M. Applying feminist theory to medical education. Lancet. 2019;393(10171):570-578. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32595-9 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1akP2nDX4tdowatckBe5MXnRNHcnTs0N_/view?usp=sharing

 

References

1. Harleman E, Payne C, Steinauer J, King T, Wheeler M. Chappter 34: Women's Health: Reproduction and Beyond in Poor Women. In: Medical Management of Vulnerable and Underserved Patients: Principles, Practice, and Populations. 2nd ed. McGraw Hill Education; 2016:381-392.
2. What health issues or conditions affect women differently than men? Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/womenshealth/conditioninfo/howconditionsaffect. Accessed July 13, 2021.
3. Schiebinger L. Women's health and clinical trials. J Clin Invest. 2003;112(7):973-977. doi:10.1172/JCI19993
4. Warraich HJ, Califf RM. Differences in Health Outcomes between Men and Women: Biological, Behavioral, and Societal Factors. Clinical Chemistry. 2019;65(1):19-23. doi:10.1373/clinchem.2018.287334
5. Leininger WM, Gupta P. One Hundred Years of Women's Suffrage. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2020; 136 (2): 349-353. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000004009.
6. Census.gov. https://www.census.gov/. Accessed July 15, 2021. 
7. Sharma M. Applying feminist theory to medical education. Lancet. 2019;393(10171):570-578. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32595-9