Gender bias in the US healthcare is an important topic. Currently, I mainly focus on United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) number 3 (Good Health and Well-being), 5 (Gender Equality) and number 10 (Reduced Inequalities). I am interested in this topic because I deeply care about people’s well-being, no matter the gender and I am really concerned that gender bias is still an issue in modern medical care.

Gender bias is when a healthcare provider either intentionally or unintentionally discriminates between genders, often favoring men. Gender bias in healthcare is an issue common worldwide but is really pronounced in the US healthcare. 

According to an "attitude study" of over 172 physicians and their treatment of 2 hypothetical patients - a menopausal female and a 58-year old male, more physicians were less likely to prescribe any treatment to a woman then to a man (Alspach). This shows that even if two genders have identical health condition, women were more likely to be misdiagnosed.

Thousands of women are affected. Gender bias is a very harmful issue as it leads to misdiagnosis, mistreatment and lack of data collected on female body and drugs' effects on it.

From a survey conducted by TODAY and MonkeyPoll, 26% of women and 18% of men felt dismissed by a health provider due to their gender and 52% women and 36% men felt that gender discrimination is a serious issue (Fell Discriminated Against at the Doctor's Office? TODAY Survey Finds You're Not Alone). This proves once again that both men and women could be discriminated against but women are much more likely to.

When women are dismissed due to their gender, it leads to loss of trust in the healthcare system, causing less appointments and checkups. That makes it more probable for a chronic condition to go unnoticed and if a medical emergency (for example, heart attack), could even lead to death. Some patients might have a sense of helplessness from being dismissed, which could lead to suicidal thoughts due to seeing that as the only option(Raypole).

In this petition, we advocate for inclusion of both/all genders in medical research for gathering of drugs' effects on all genders differently, creation of more training programs for healthcare providers to identify their biases and fight them, inclusion of gender in data to build on an evidence base, close monitoring and auditing to make sure the changes are implemented effectively in both large and small, profit and non-profit health organizations.

By signing this petition you are helping to raise awareness of this issue and showcase to authorities and decision-makers that this issue is recognised and supported.

Sign this petition and be part of the healthier, more inclusive future. Share this to spread awareness and press authority to make changes.

Works Cited:

Alspach, JoAnn Grif. "Is There Gender Bias in Critical Care?" Critical Care
     Nurse, AACN Publishing, 1 Dec. 2012, aacnjournals.org/ccnonline/article/
     32/6/8/3242/Is-There-Gender-Bias-in-Critical-Care. Accessed 1 May 2025.
 
"Feel Discriminated against at the Doctor's Office? TODAY Survey Finds You're
     Not Alone." TODAY, 13 May 2019, www.today.com/health/
     today-survey-finds-gender-discrimination-doctor-s-office-serious-issue-t153641.
     Accessed 27 Apr. 2025.

Raypole, Crystal. "Gender Bias in Healthcare Is Very Real — and Sometimes Fatal." Edited by Kelly Morrell. Healthline, Healthline Media, 20 Jan. 2022, www.healthline.com/health/gender-bias-healthcare#impact  Accessed 5 Apr. 2025.

Picture:

The KLS EBI Committee. "The Statistics of Pain: Gender Bias in Medicine." The
     KLS Khranicle, 1 May 2023, www.khranicle.com/ebi-genderbias Accessed 19 May 2025.