It’s 2022 – why has it taken England this long to prioritise women’s health?

At its core this is about some basic but difficult biases: the way women’s pain is disregarded, says Ian Hamilton

A new women’s health strategy says medics should be given lessons on women’s health issues (Alamy/PA)

Most government consultations attract a few thousand responses at best. But when the Department of Health recently called for a public response to a strategy on women’s health, it received over a hundred thousand responses.

It confirmed what many have been saying for a while: women’s health is not taken as seriously as men’s. Despite making up 51 per cent of the population, living longer than men, and experiencing more years of disability, there is still a lack of research on women’s health and treatment that meets their needs.

In July, the government published its first ever Women’s Health Strategy to tackle the gender health gap in England. The Department of Health and Social Care said it “sets bold ambitions to tackle deep-rooted, systemic problems within the health and care system to improve the health and wellbeing of women and reset how the health and care system listens to women”.