Supporting women's health
An imperative of research and equality
Why is women's health a major public health issue ?
Women’s health responds to specific needs, deeply rooted in biological, hormonal and social differences. Women should no longer be regarded as human bodies by default. 1 These specificities influence disease onset, diagnosis, medical management and subjective experience.
Despite this reality, women are still too often the forgotten subjects of research. Long excluded from clinical trials, they continue to be under-diagnosed in pathologies as serious as heart attack, whose atypical female symptoms are poorly understood. The figures speak for themselves: only 10% of health research budgets are specifically devoted to women.2
To be fully effective, biomedical research and the organization of care must take into account the specific biological and pathophysiological characteristics of women, in order to guarantee equivalent quality of care for all. Taking women’s health into account means redressing decades of scientific, medical and social injustice.
1 Muriel Salle – Historian, expert in gender and health studies (UE “Corps, genre, santé”)
Contributor to the Haut Conseil à l’Égalité report on gender and health (2020)
2 A study published in the journal Nature in 2020 revealed that only 10% of the research budgets of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA were allocated to women-specific studies. This figure, though limited to the US, illustrates the wider problem of the lack of funding for women’s health research.
Women are under-represented in health studies and clinical trials, and their pain is often trivialized.
Major female pathologies : a panorama of Inserm research
Gynecological health: endometriosis and uterine fibroids
Endometriosis affects around one in ten women, causing severe, incapacitating pain. Yet diagnosis often takes an average of 7 years. Inserm is investing in the identification of biomarkers, the study of inflammatory and hormonal mechanisms, and the development of innovative treatments.
Another largely ignored pathology: uterine fibroids, which affect one in four women. Although common, they remain little studied, despite their impact on quality of life. Today, the Inserm Foundation is promoting an ambitious research program to establish a new team dedicated to this disease.
Testimonial
“Women’s health is now better taken into account, particularly in the areas of fertility, osteoporosis, endometriosis, contraception and menopause. But there are still many unexplored fields and gaps in care, such as cardiovascular disease and pain management. We therefore need to launch new research projects, which the Inserm Foundation will be able to support.
Marina Kvaskoff – epidemiologist and Inserm researcher in the “Exposome, Heredity, Cancer and Health” team at the Centre de recherche en épidémiologie et santé des populations in Villejuif.
Marina Kvaskoff is dedicated to the study of endometriosis, a disease that affects 10% of women in France. Currently, it takes between 6 and 10 years for a diagnosis to be made, once symptoms have appeared, which considerably delays treatment. Marina Kvaskoff’s research also focuses on fibroids, a pathology which affects 25% of women in France, and about which little is known.
Cardiovascular disease: the leading cause of death among women
Every year, 75,000 women die from cardiovascular disease in France, more than from cancer. Women’s symptoms, often different from those of men, are insufficiently recognized by healthcare professionals.
30%
of women are more likely than men to present with stroke symptoms, then to be misdiagnosed before being sent home.
Inserm is conducting research into spontaneous coronary dissection (SCAD), a form of heart attack that affects young women with no known risk factors.
Hormonal and metabolic disorders
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which affects 5-10% of women of childbearing age, is a major cause of infertility and a metabolic risk factor. At menopause, hormonal changes affect bones, the heart and cognition. Inserm is exploring these mechanisms, in particular the effects of estrogen withdrawal, to anticipate targeted prevention strategies.
Mental health and hormonal variations
Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression and anxiety, often in connection with major hormonal milestones: puberty, pregnancy, postpartum, menopause. Research teams are focusing on the interactions between hormones and neurotransmitters, with the ambition of proposing more personalized treatments.
Environmental exposure
Endocrine disruptors, pesticides and environmental pollution have a well-documented impact on fertility, hormone-dependent cancers and numerous chronic pathologies. Inserm is leading several projects to better understand these links and propose prevention policies tailored to women’s health.
Social and systemic inequalities: multiple obstacles to women’s health
Barriers to accessing care are not just biological. Women, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, single mothers and racialized women, face delays in diagnosis, a lack of awareness of their specific symptoms and structural obstacles in the healthcare system.
In the workplace, women’s health is still a taboo subject. Mental overload, burn-out and discrimination are still common.
Key figures (source BVA/VYV 2024) :
- 1 in 3 women feels in poor mental or physical health.
- 20% of working women are in a burn-out situation or close to it
- Nearly 3 out of 10 women are bothered by certain aspects of their feminine health, and twice as many suffer from female pathologies.
- 20 days of sick leave/year on average for women suffering from female pathologies.
- 1 in 4 women feel that menstrual pain penalizes their career
- 73% say they fear being judged if they talk about their health at work
According to a survey by the Association pour l’emploi des cadres (Apec), nearly three quarters of female executives who have had children feel that maternity leave slows down their progress up the career ladder for several years. What’s more, 47% of mothers surveyed felt that returning to work was difficult, and 14% found it very difficult. According to data from Santé publique France’s Baromètre santé 2021, 12.5% of people aged 18 to 85 have experienced a major depressive episode in the last 12 months. Prevalence is higher among women, reaching 15.6%, compared with 9.3% among men.
Towards equality in health: the commitments of the Inserm Foundation
Faced with these facts, the Inserm Foundation is committed to promoting research that is demanding, inclusive and useful for all. It supports pioneering projects in areas that are still marginalized, such as :
- SCAD and heart attacks in young women;
- hormonal disorders such as PCOS;
- the consequences of gender-based violence on physical and mental health.
Today, we need your help to change that.
By supporting the Inserm Foundation, you are helping to advance knowledge of pathologies that have been neglected for too long: endometriosis, female cardiovascular disease, hormonal disorders, the impact of violence or environmental exposure on women’s health… These diseases have a major impact on women’s quality of life and on the economy of companies, due to the absences and difficulties they can cause.
Your donation enables us to fund innovative research programs, support committed teams, and promote more equitable medicine based on scientific excellence.
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Every euro invested means progress for thousands of women.
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