Hello everybody,

This week apologies to any male readers, but I’m on a bit of a rant and it’s about the treatment of women in our society. Not only do women have to contend with the gender pay gap in work and the assumption that they will do most of the unpaid work in the home, it turns out we are also disadvantaged in the treatment we receive from healthcare professionals.

Healthy Magazine first highlighted this last spring, although I have seen other articles on the subject as well. Research has now proved that women have to fight harder to receive appropriate health treatment. Women’s health issues are also routinely dismissed in terms of research and public information and support. Women spend 19.1 years of their life in poor health compared to men at 16.1 years.

Of course, for most women this is not a surprise. I’m sure you all have stories of the time your worries, pain and discomfort have been dismissed by a health professional as, at best, “being over emotional” or at worst “neurotic”. Symptoms and the support for PMS, endometriosis, menopause and PCOS have all been given low priority. To make matters worse, women are often made to feel they are exaggerating their symptoms or that they can’t have time off work for these problems – usually due to gender pay gap issues.

Furthermore, the poor health treatment of women filters down to affect our children too. A mother’s instinct is more often than not right when she knows her child is unwell, but again many mother’s are dismissed by healthcare professionals as being over protective or again “neurotic”.

So, ladies, we need to fight for our right for equality in health treatment. If you go to https://www.healthy-magazine.co.uk/sexism-in-healthcare-campaign/ there is a letter you can download to email to Paula Sherriff MP to lobby the Government to take women’s health seriously. I’ve done mine – I hope you can find time to do yours.