Healthcare Discrimination Among Sexes

Jamila Aliyeva

GSWW 357 A

10/26/2018

Professor Kenney

Healthcare Discrimination Among Sexes.

For many centuries, women have been regarded as sub-members of society, marginalized by their gender. In a broad context, this oppression may be evidenced by endless instances of social injustice towards women, such as their delayed right to vote. Although larger issues regarding female autonomy have been addressed, it is evident that women continue to be weighed down by our patriarchal society. In evaluating the female sex in the twenty first century, one is subjected to a clear example of this.  Despite progress made toward assertion of the female sex, women still face instances of injustice through the medical research gender gap.

Todays’ experimental research directly impacts the use of modern Western medicine, this includes the treatment of various diseases. However, present-day clinical trials often exclude female sexed individuals from animal and human trials. For instance, in 2010 a group of researchers conducted a survey which sampled the Thomson Reuters Web of Science database from 2009 to analyze the incorporation of female bodied mammals for selected research diseases. Then, they compared this outcome to the amount of female bodied individuals who are diagnosed to suffer from the selected disease in the United States. The conductors did this by viewing studies which revealed the sex of mammals in their research, the outcome projected that the percentage of women in the total population that represent the disease are underrepresented by close to half in the rats and mouse models (Baylis 690). By underrepresenting the amount of female animal subjects, the researchers are constructing a less reliable data outcome. This data then is incorporated into medical practices and constructs unreliable and unequal healthcare system. By having an animal model that is representative of the human male to female population, researchers would provide more viable information to medical professionals. Similarly, this issue stretches not only to animal subjects but to human trials as well. A recent study by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and George Washington University, discovered that medical research in cardiovascular disease includes females in fewer than “thirty-one percent of cardiovascular clinical trials” (Dale). This is an issue because the research done on female bodied individuals is unrepresentative of those who suffer of the disease. In fact, scientists will choose to skew ratios because it is believed that “male models will maximize the variability” (Putting gender). However, it has been observed that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in female bodied individuals. In the United States, “1 of every 3 female deaths” is accounted for because of cardiovascular disease (Lewandowski). By studying subjects that are mostly male bodied individuals one is prioritizing the health of those in the demographic. IF researchers were to inspect more female animal and human subjects during clinical studies, the healthcare system would begin to promote better standardized treatments for female bodied individuals due to a larger mass of knowledge available.