Medical Misogyny | All About Women 2026

Women’s pain isn’t “mysterious”. Medicine is failing us.For centuries, women’s symptoms have been misunderstood, minimised or dismissed, from wandering wombs and so-called “hysteria” to modern-day misdiagnosis, mistreatment and delayed care.Medical science made extraordinary advances in the 20th and 21st centuries, but gender bias remains stubbornly embedded in healthcare, from a body of scientific research based largely on male experience, to a medical culture that can still see women dismissed or even belittled.An increasing body of testimony shows how dangerous this is for women — particularly First Nations women, women of colour and gender-diverse people — with poorer health outcomes across cardiovascular, neurological, reproductive and autoimmune conditions.Against this backdrop, studies like Australia’s first-ever Inquiry into Women’s Pain — drawing on the lived experiences of more than 13,000 women, girls, carers, healthcare professionals, peak bodies and researchers — point to the urgent need for reform.Join this expert panel as they put medical misogyny under the microscope and, crucially, map out what meaningful change could finally look like. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.