The World is Against Women
By: Nikki, Year 12
The world we live in today is built for men. Our society is predominantly designed and structured to cater to the needs and preferences of men, and the systemic disadvantages women face everyday can cost us our lives. It is already common knowledge that certain gender disparities exist and impact women's lives, but most women are unaware the extent to which these disparities affect them.
When systemic disadvantages faced by women are mentioned, you may think of more obvious examples such as the gender pay-gap, gender-based violence, underrepresentation, and inadequate access to education. These are incredibly important and jarring issues, and fortunately in recent years they are being addressed more and more. Although there is still a long way to go in solving these problems, it is important to recognise that there are also many lesser-known issues that need to be dealt with. This includes addressing the way society does not properly account for women’s needs in the way it does for men. From healthcare to crash-test dummies, men are seen as the “default,” and this leads to women being unprotected and overlooked, and they are forced to deal with the consequences of society’s negligence.
Women are far more likely to be misdiagnosed than men in various aspects of healthcare. Acute Myocardial Infarction, more commonly known as a heart attack, is 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed in women than in men, and are 30% more likely following a stroke. Certain conditions such as endometriosis which are female-specific can take years for an accurate diagnosis. This is partly because women are often unfairly labeled as "overly emotional." This perception is based on the historical context of women's mental health and the term ‘hysteria.’ This was seen as an exclusively female mental disorder and doctors used it to excuse women's symptoms. Essentially, everything male doctors viewed as unmanageable was labelled as hysteria. Women's health and needs were ignored and this continues to seep into healthcare in the modern world, leaving women receiving incorrect or inadequate treatment.
Unfortunately, misdiagnosis isn't where women’s disadvantages in healthcare end. Women are also more likely to be overmedicated or suffer adverse side effects due to medication. Clinical trials are heavily dominated by male participants, leading to results not accurately representing women. Men and women are then prescribed the same dosage, despite it not being suitable for women, putting them at risk.
What is even more alarming is the disparity between the healthcare treatment that women of colour receive in comparison to what white women receive. In the United States, black women have the highest maternal mortality rate at 69.9 per 100,000 live births, which is 3 times higher than the maternal mortality rate of a white woman. This highlights the racial bias that is present in in healthcare, even in a modern world. It is crucial these inequalities are addressed as everyone deserves fair and unbiased treatment, especially in aspects like healthcare where peoples lives and wellbeing are at stake.
Female drivers have a significantly higher chance of being injured in a car crash than men. A study by University of Virginia Center for Applied Biomechanics found that female drivers had a staggering 47% higher chance of serious injury and 71% higher likelihood of a moderate injury than male drivers. These statistics can be explained by the fact that car crash dummies are typically modeled after men. In the EU, out of the five regulatory tests that there are, only one specifies that a female dummy must be used, and it's only in the passenger seat. This is a prime example of men being used as a “default.” We cannot base potentially life-saving regulations on men and ignore the remaining half of the world these regulations do not account for.
From birth, women are subjected to undeserved punishment simply because they are women. Society’s failure to account for women’s needs in basic aspects of everyday life are quite frankly, shocking, and it is heartbreaking that billions of women across the world must deal with such circumstances.
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