The Gender Pain Gap - Why is it that women continue to be discriminated against even in this era?

Amie Rule
Jan 17
5 min read

Updated: Jan 17

Chronic pain statistics continue to be on the rise, especially amongst women so why are women still being ignored and dismissed?

In 2020, the Australian government reported that an alarming 1in 5 Australians aged over 45 are living with ongoing and persistent pain. The cost of chronic pain on the economy was an estimated $139 billion. Over the last 10 years, there has been a whopping increase of 67% in GP consultations associated with the management of chronic pain(1) Chronic pain not only has a huge impact on the economy but on the individual’s mental, physical and emotional wellbeing which is often overlooked. So despite the rise in statistics and the huge financial impact on the economy, why does this continue to be a female problem. Why despite chronic pain being an international public issue is there STILL such an inequality of how women are treated not just within Australia but all over the world? Why is there still a gender pain gap?

What is the gender pain gap?

The gender pain gap in Australia is a significant issue that looks at how men and women experience pain and the disparity in treatment that they receive (2). For generations, women have been poorly treated when it comes to pain. Medical gender bias often means that women are being denied the diagnosis, the understanding, the empathy, the pain relief and the treatment that men are being given. Women’s pain is often normalised and dismissed in healthcare settings and even in this day and age, women are still being told that their symptoms and experiences don’t matter.

This isn’t anything new. For generations, women and their symptoms have been dismissed.

In the 1800s, when women presented with any symptoms beyond ‘normal’ such as fatigue, headaches, irritability, nervousness or any behaviour undesirable to society or more specifically, to men, they diagnosed with hysteria. Hysteria was also an only female only condition.

It wasn’t until 1980 hysteria was formally studied and found in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and means when someone is hysterical, that is, frenzied, frantic and out of control (3).

Image sourced from Museum of History New South Wales.

To this day, women who express and voice symptoms of pain are still being dismissed and subconsciously classified as being too much, too loud, too inconvenient or gaslit.

Their experiences of pain are further dismissed because the pain is unseen and does not traditionally follow the Western medical model.

Women’s pain is often normalised and dismissed in healthcare settings and even in this day and age, women are still being told that their symptoms and experiences don’t matter.

Some interesting statistics about how women and chronic pain:

Women are more likely to experience chronic pain and chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia is more prominent in women with approx 75-90% of women being diagnosed (4).
In 2022, the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that 74% of women experienced bodily pain, compared to 68% of men (5).
Research has also shown that women generally experience more recurrent pain, more severe pain, and longer-lasting pain than men (6).
Chronic pain affects a higher proportion of girls and women than men around the world; however, women are less likely to receive treatment.
In Nurofen’s Gender Pain Gap Index Report’, 55% of women felt they have had their pain ignored or dismissed compared to only 48% of men. Nearly 1/3 of women said this was because their GP didn’t take their pain seriously. 49% said that they weren’t taken seriously because they were considered too emotional (7).

From personal experience. I have had debilitating periods from 11 years of age. I also bled for nearly 3 weeks out of 4. Doctors often compared my pain as similar to someone in labour. In the early 90’s, the only solution was to put me on the pill. Although it stabilised my periods, it did nothing for my moods. I was often emotional, felt suicidal and even more hormonal. In my early 30’s, I removed myself from the contraceptive pill to balance out my hormones. Finally after two kids and an increasing amount of pain, I had a laparoscopy where they found endometriosis and adenomyosis. Over two decades later, my pain has intensified to the worst it’s ever been. Some months the pain remains for 3 weeks of out 4. Doctors still tell me the same thing - my hormones are normal and then they advise me to take panadol, Ponstan or to have an IUD or hormonal implant inserted. With every encounter I feel even more hopeless and defeated. Upon reflecting back, I have had approx 350 periods since I started menstruating at 11 years of age. I’ve been in pain for a large majority of these. I’ve spent an accumulation of years in pain, yet I find that we have progressed so little in the nearly 3 decades I’ve had these symptoms.

“This “arrogant culture” of not taking women’s concerns seriously has even led to decades of…needless suffering” (8).

Earlier in 2023, a much needed parliamentary review was made into how women in Australia are treated.

Even today, our culture continues to project blame on women for their own pain. Women are often told that it’s normal, it’s in their head. Literature now advises that that even if our symptoms are psychosomatic, imagined or in our head, these symptoms are real and require treatment, just like any other illness (9).

Chronic pain symptoms in women still aren’t recognised and diagnosed because we are still being taught that women don’t have a right to feel or act that way because it isn’t in line with the way a man would act. Even in this day and age, women have quietened themselves and their experiences. This is a byproduct of how the medical system has treated them. Until we start to value women, their health and their experiences, we won’t get the drastic change that we need.

Chronic pain is isolating enough, so when women go to practitioners for help and are still ignored, it is still reinforcing this notion that you are not enough.

Women then feel powerless, feel without option and this is the catalyst for a myriad of additional emotions. This is only contributing further to the mental load of living in pain which can cause heightened emotions such as fear and anxiety. Neuroscience has taught us that emotions such as fear and anxiety can lead to more pain (whether it be emotional, mental or physical).

Understanding that this is not our fault and understanding what we can do about this within our one lives and our health is the first step.

In my book ‘Breaking the Rules of Pain”, I talk about how we can start to break down these narratives and how people can take back their power in healing their whole body. Whilst we wait for generational change, if we as a collective continue to disrupt the status quo and heal, we set the precedence for future generations.

The Gender Pain Gap - Why is it that women continue to be discriminated against even in this era?

Chronic pain statistics continue to be on the rise, especially amongst women so why are women still being ignored and dismissed?

What is the gender pain gap?

Recent Posts

Comments