In this article, we’ll address the issues that hinder progress in women’s health: from the lack of research and underrepresentation in clinical trials to biases in diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, we’ll look at WifOR Institute’s gender-relevant data on major diseases, the impact of illness on women’s paid and unpaid labor, and the role of prevention in reducing health burdens.
Lack of research, a challenge for women’s health
Long-standing inequalities between men and women are seen not just in daily society, but also in science. Despite the broad consensus that there are differences between the sexes, affecting how diseases manifest in each case, women’s health remains understudied.
This lack of research on women stems from several factors, as listed in The Lancet Regional Health (Americas):
- Women, as well as female animals and cell lines, are often absent in clinical trials. This is partly due to their different hormonal cycles.
- Researchers and other experts receive little training regarding methodologies and content for sex differences.
- The incorporation of gender-based knowledge into clinical practice has been insufficient so far.
These challenges add to the lack of funding for gender-sensitive research.
What is the Gender Data Gap?
The Gender Data Gap describes the use of male data as the default in research and design, perpetuating biases and leading to solutions tailored to men despite women comprising half of the world’s population.
In the case of health, the gap manifests in missing evidence for conditions affecting women. Meanwhile, men’s bodies, symptoms, and experiences are treated as the standard. This phenomenon additionally sustains the false view that differences between the sexes are merely reproductive.
Women are underrepresented in clinical trials
Harvard University clarifies that animal research is needed for legal compliance, ethical, scientific, and safety reasons. Yet underrepresentation in early-stage research linked to women begins with animal tests.
A persisting issue is the use of mostly male mice for trials. Despite preconceptions that including more female mice would lead to inaccurate results, a need for increased samples, and higher costs, peer-reviewed research indicates that female mice are not more variable than their male counterparts. Moreover, for most traits, the menstrual cycles of female mice do not affect scientific outcomes.
Yet the lack of female animals and female participants in trials also stems from broader social norms and regulations. In the USA, for example, it was not until 1993 that the federal law established that women and minorities should be included in clinical research.
In the EU, the European Medicines Agency first published the scientific guidelines “Gender considerations in the conduct of clinical trials” in 2005. Since then, significant progress has been achieved, including new guidelines for pregnant and breast-feeding individuals.
Side effects of medications affect women more often
The lack of knowledge of how women’s bodies react under various circumstances is additionally seen in frequent side effects of medications. In women, these occur almost twice as often as in men (Springer Nature, 2020). The Canadian Institutes of Health Research point to gender differences like women’s fat levels, liver and kidney functions, heart activity, and weight that can alter how the body processes medicines and other treatments. These variations are often ignored in clinical trials and other instances of treatment development.
The phenomenon of persistent side-effects in women and their documentation is not new. A landmark report from the US’s Government Accountability Office revealed that, out of the 10 drugs removed from the US market between 1997 and 2000, 8 posed major health risks for women.
In recent years, significant strides have been made to understand these adverse physical reactions and the causes behind them. A study published in JAMA Open Network (2023) led by researchers of Harvard’s GenderSci Lab indicates that women are more likely to take medication than men, hence the higher incidence of side effects. In another study (2023), they look at social factors that can trigger unwanted effects. These range from biases and discrimination from doctors that lead to inadequate handling to suffering from poverty and gender-based violence more frequently.
Gender Pain Gap: Definition and examples
Another aspect that poses obstacles to understanding women’s bodies, needs, and their overall well-being is the gender pain gap.
WifOR’s Head of Health Economics, Dr. Malina Müller, addressed this topic in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. She explained that female patients are often not taken seriously enough when describing their symptoms. In the case of men, pain perception is handled much earlier.
Peer-reviewed research shared by the US National Institutes of Health (2025) shows that women experience chronic pain and “everyday” pains such as headaches more often than men. They go through 1.6 painful events per month compared to 1.2 in their male counterparts. However, these afflictions are more likely to be underestimated, undertreated, or to be detected with delays in women.
Chronic and common events add to gender-specific ailments. Among them are menstrual cramps, conditions such as dysmenorrhea, and pain linked to maternity, birth, and menopause. Persisting stigma limits the societal understanding of these topics, perpetuating biases surrounding pain and widening inequalities.
Women’s health research: Data on major diseases
Despite the challenges, the volume of research addressing women’s health is growing. WifOR Institute’s scientific findings are also contributing to this goal. Our studies highlight key aspects such as the impact of diseases in unpaid work, which women carry out more often.
Breast cancer research
According to the WHO (2025), 2.3 million women worldwide were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022. Moreover, 670,000 lost their lives due to the disease that year. While this cancer can affect women at any age post-puberty, the risk increases starting at the age of 40.
In addition to healthcare costs, breast cancer negatively impacts productivity, including missed workdays and reduced unpaid tasks. A study by WifOR Institute supported by FIFARMA (2024) found that breast cancer alone cost $3.06 billion across eight Latin American countries in terms of lost labor in 2022. The economic losses represented 0.06% of Brazil’s GDP and 0.05% of Argentina’s.
Another WifOR study for Korea (2025) identified productivity decreases of 1.31 million hours for paid work and 1.79 million hours for unpaid work. Specifically, women in their 50s were the most affected. In economic terms, this corresponds to $18.5 million in remunerated labor losses and $25.5 million in non-remunerated labor.
Migraine research
Migraine is 3 to 4 times more likely to appear in adult women than in men, as indicated by the US National Institutes of Health. Despite being a leading cause of disability worldwide, it remains underdiagnosed, undertreated, and underestimated.
Globally, the condition costs between 1-2% of GDP each year, according to a Global Coalition on Aging report including WifOR data (2026). This places migraine among the top diseases in terms of socioeconomic impact.
A WifOR study on migraine on six European countries (2025) states that productivity losses due to migraine were approximately twice as high for women as for men. The disparity reached nearly threefold in Spain and more than threefold in Portugal.
The contrast is even greater when looking at non-remunerated tasks. Female individuals experienced between 4- and 9-times greater productivity losses in unpaid work compared to male individuals. Female-specific losses ranged from €11 billion to €69 billion.
Diabetes research
As of 2017, there were 199 million women living with diabetes around the world. The number is projected to rise to 313 million by 2040 (Source: International Diabetes Federation).
Despite the condition affecting both genders, women with diabetes face disproportionately higher risks. This includes 50% higher likelihood of dying from heart disease, according to various studies cited in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.
A peer-reviewed WifOR study (2022) determined the socioeconomic impact of a treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus in Mexico while examining gender-specific differences. Early intensified treatment could have saved $54 million in a 10-year period due to reduced complications. However, in terms of earned productivity resulting from better health, the hours gained by women would have mostly impacted unpaid labor (73% of gains in unpaid work versus 27% for paid work).
CVDs research
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide, notes the WHO. The World Heart Federation underscores that 30% of deaths in women globally occur due to CVDs, with more than twice as many fatalities as those caused by all forms of cancer combined.
As CVDs are most common in men, they are often considered a “man’s disease”. Nevertheless, multiple peer-reviewed studies highlight that women are frequently underdiagnosed, leading to worse patient outcomes.
Unlike the classic chest pain commonly associated with heart attacks, women may experience subtle warning signs like shortness of breath, nausea, fatigue, and back or jaw pain (WHO, 2025). These symptoms are frequently overlooked, increasing the risk of severe health complications.
The impact of CVDs extends beyond individual health: it has profound socioeconomic consequences. A WifOR study (2022) found that the productivity losses caused by atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD) in Germany amounted to 55 million hours (€1.1 billion) and 1.9 billion hours (€23.4 billion) of paid and unpaid work, respectively. The major decrease in non-remunerated labor, affecting mostly women, is noteworthy.
This publication also points out that, while men face the highest health burdens, women account for the most deaths and inpatient care in the oldest age groups.
Women’s reproductive health
Several conditions and challenges are among the most common regarding women’s reproductive health. These include:
- Endometriosis, which occurs when the lining of the uterus grows elsewhere
- Gynecological cancer, including cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, and vulvar cancer
- Uterine fibroids, which are non-cancerous tumors that grow in the uterus’ walls
- HPV, the human papillomavirus, which can cause genital warts or cancer
- HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus
- Polycystic ovary syndrome causing ovaries or adrenal glands to produce an excess of male hormones
- STDs or sexually transmitted diseases
- Sexual violence
Addressing these issues – as well as challenges linked to pregnancy, childbirth, and family planning – is crucial to ensure a better quality of life for women, reduce inequalities, and enhance bodily autonomy.
Prevention to close gaps in women’s health
Besides better understanding the diseases affecting women, preventing them altogether is essential to improve well-being, promote equity, and drive prosperity.
WifOR’s research on prevention shows how promoting women’s health yields far-reaching benefits beyond individuals:
- Our Health ROI Assessor was applied to a cervical cancer screening prevention program (Pap testing) in Germany. For every €1 million invested in this program, almost €2 million in GDP contribution and 32 jobs are created within and beyond the healthcare sector over three years.
- Our publication in eClinical Medicine (2025), a journal of The Lancet Group, demonstrated that every $1 invested in vaccination against HPV in the UK yielded almost $2 dollars in direct economic effects in 2022.
- Our report on HER2+ breast cancer in seven African countries (2025) quantified total productivity losses due to the disease equivalent to over $10 billion between 2017 and 2023. The findings highlight the importance of early diagnosis. In 2023, the social impact per patient was 5% higher for early compared to late HER2+ breast cancer ($633 vs. $603), underscoring the socioeconomic relevance of timely detection.
The findings show that prevention delivers measurable returns for women’s health and for broader society.
Health, labor, and caregiving: Data on unpaid work by women
The International Labour Organization (ILO) reports that 708 million women globally cannot participate in the labor market due to unpaid caregiving responsibilities. With the demand for health-related care expected to grow due to factors like the climate crisis and demographic change, reducing the negative impact of diseases is essential to ease women’s unpaid workload.
Our publication “Healthy Returns: A Catalyst for Economic Growth and Resilience” (2025) addresses this matter. The white paper highlights that, while informal caregiving has a substantial socioeconomic cost, it remains unrecognized and underreported in traditional statistics and metrics.
Nevertheless, awareness on the issue and available data are slowly growing. For instance, a publication on The European Journal of Health Economics (2024) indicated that the estimated cost of unpaid caregiving in the Netherlands in 2019 reached between €17.5 billion and € 30.1 billion. This represents 2.2% to 3.7% of the GDP. Even as the country ranks 5th in terms of gender equality in the EU, the study shows than more than half of those impacted by informal caregiving are women.
As stated in the white paper, reducing health challenges driving unpaid care enables caregivers to participate in the workforce. Beneficial measures include prevention campaigns, accessible healthcare, new treatments, and effective long-term care systems.
Children’s health and caregiving in women
Care tasks are also often associated with children. Therefore, preventing illnesses affecting infants can also provide relief for caregivers and boost employment.
WifOR’s Head of Scientific Dialogue, Dr. Sandra Zimmermann, analyzed this issue at the World Health Summit. During a panel discussion, she presented the case for RSV vaccination. “With infant RSV prevention, you see immediate returns – fewer hospitalizations in the next season, more parents able to work – and long-term effects as well: healthier adults, higher productivity, lower social security costs,” she stated, as quoted by Health Policy Watch. Dr. Zimmermann added that these gains benefit women more significantly.
Data on women’s health and labor market participation
Besides impacting women in caregiving roles, many diseases also affect individuals directly and hinder their possibilities to study or work.
Migraine provides a clear example. The condition is not only prevalent on women, but its incidence also peaks at working age. WifOR’s study on migraine in four Asian countries (2024) underscores that the burden of the disease typically increases between the ages of 15 and 45. In South Korea and Japan, the productivity losses associated with migraine in women are more than two times higher than in men.
In the case of mental health, women are likely to experience common disorders such as anxiety or depression three times more often than men, according to the UK’s Mental Health Foundation. When looking at official UK statistics on workplace absences due to sickness, mental health was the fifth most common cause for absenteeism in 2022.
These prevalent diseases hamper productivity, leading to a reduction in labor supply and, consequently, in economic growth. By prioritizing access to treatment, workplace accommodations, and increased awareness, the burden on healthcare systems, economies, and society can be reduced.
A mostly female workforce drives women’s health, but labor inequalities persist
Women’s health is also dependent on healthcare provision and the workforce behind it. However, structural inequalities hinder not only female patients, but female workers in health, which make the majority of all professionals in the sector.
While women provide vital health services to an estimated 5 billion people globally and contribute $3 trillion to global health systems annually (WHO), they still face obstacles like lower salaries, fewer career opportunities, and a greater burden of non-paid activities.
A 2019 report by the World Health Organization comprising 104 countries identified an average gender pay gap in health of around 28% globally. When adjusting the salaries per job and working hours, women still earn 11% less than men.
Additionally, almost 7 out of 10 health and care workers in the world are women. Nevertheless, men hold 75% of the leadership positions in the sector. Women tend to work part-time more often than their male counterparts, as they frequently take over more non-remunerated tasks.
While participation of women in the health workforce is high, targeted measures are needed to overcome pay inequities, foster an equal distribution of care work, secure paths to decision-making roles, and eliminate barriers like discrimination. Promoting fairer conditions drives worker well-being and makes the healthcare system stronger, a key step towards achieving better health for women.
Solutions to close research gaps and inequalities in women’s health
Advancing women’s health is a crucial pillar of the Sustainable Development Goals. Progress is particularly relevant for SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). To reduce disparities – from the lack of data on women to inadequate care – action must be prioritized on multiple fronts.
Action in science, research, and healthcare
Comprehensive data on women’s health is needed to tackle knowledge gaps. Positive steps include:
- Disaggregating health data and statistics by sex, as done by WHO since 2019.
- Including female specimens in pre-clinical tests and women in clinical trials for representative analyses.
- Conducting in-depth studies for gender-specific ailments and conditions.
- Guaranteeing funding for women’s health and research.
- Incorporating gender-relevant tools, contents, and methodologies into the curricula of medical professionals and researchers.
- Establishing approaches and guidelines to include gender differences in daily clinical practice.
- Analyzing data intersectionally to see how gender relates to other drivers of inequality – including age, ethnicity, income level, and location.
Action in policy, labor, and society
Having greater knowledge of women’s health is not enough. Scientific data must guide decision-making and provide a foundation for measures that help close gender gaps. Positive steps include:
- Raising awareness on conditions affecting women and their broader socioeconomic impact on employment, caregiving, equality, and growth.
- Informing policy plans with gender-sensitive, accurate scientific data to avoid deepening inequalities.
- Institutionalizing prevention at different state levels (national, regional, local) and policy areas (from finance to education) to combat diseases. This includes early screenings, lifestyle interventions, and immunization for women’s health.
- Providing workplace adjustments for women affected by various ailments – including common occurrences such as periods.
- Improving access to gender-relevant services such as contraception, pregnancy care, maternal care, and mental health support.
- Strengthening health and social care systems to reduce the pressure on women with caregiving obligations and boost labor market participation.
- Allocating resources to women’s health programs and initiatives.
WifOR Institute is helping to achieve these objectives through research. We provide comprehensive data on disease burdens and health solutions (such as prevention programs or novel medicines) to shed light on the conditions affecting women and the necessary courses of action. By raising awareness on the far-reaching effects of illness – individual, social, and economic – we can highlight the importance of strengthening health and guide policymaking.
To foster real change, understanding women’s health and the well-being of the population as an investment, instead of a cost, is a crucial shift.
In conclusion, addressing gender data gaps and the lack of research on women’s health is a first key step to combat inequalities, but not the last one. Embedding these findings into decisions is essential to secure stronger societies, more equal opportunities, and a fairer future for women.
