The Problem

• Clinical research is male-directed.Medical research, by default, is male led. For example, The Physician's Health Study examined the effect of aspirin on cardiovascular disease involving 22,000 patients. Not a single one of them was female! Women of childbearing age were even banned in the 1970s from being enrolled in phase I clinical trials. This means treatments have been developed whose effectiveness and safety are unknown in women.
• Gender imbalances persist in peer-reviewed publications and research advancement. Studies have found that there are stark gender imbalances when it comes to the authorship of clinical trials and research articles, with males being far more likely to publish than females. This can result in a lack of representation of women's perspectives, leading to clinical research that is male-directed and may fail to adequately address the particular needs of women. Further evidence of this gender imbalance can be seen in the inequities in peer review and research advancement, with fewer women obtaining leadership roles in key decision-making roles.
• The disparity in research funding is glaring. A funding analysis by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) showed that research funding was disproportionately allocated to male-led studies at the expense of those that affect primarily women. As a result, there is less focus on the development of treatments and therapies tailored to the needs of women, leading to poorer outcomes for women. For instance, one study found that women were significantly less likely to receive an initial diagnosis of heart failure than men, even after adjusting for differences in age, race and other factors. The researchers attributed this disparity to the lack of attention paid to the needs of women in healthcare research and clinical practice. Similarly, studies have found that women are more likely to suffer from long-term health problems related to medical conditions such as diabetes than men. Yet these disparities have often gone unrecognized and untreated due to the lack of research focused on female patients.