Over half of women in the UK feel their pain is ignored or dismissed, says report

Over half of women in the UK feel their pain is ignored or dismissed, the Gender Pain Gap Index Report suggests.

The report published by Nurofen following the UK government’s Women’s Health Strategy for England reveals the extent of the gender pain gap that disproportionately affects women.

The inaugural Gender Pain Gap Index Report was launched to quantify the suspected gender gap that exists when it comes to recognising pain, influenced by a lack of medical research into women’s specific pains and a lack of mandatory training for healthcare professionals on women-specific conditions.

A nationwide survey of 5,100 women and men across the UK, commissioned by Nurofen has shown that nearly half (48 per cent) of all adults surveyed believe there is a ‘gap’ in the identification and treatment of pain between each gender.

Of the people surveyed who think the Gender Pain Gap exists, 63 per cent of women compared with only 39 per cent of men believe this is the case because women are not always taken as seriously because they’re viewed as ‘emotional’.

Over half of women (56 per cent) feel their pain is ignored or dismissed and of those that felt this way, 50 per cent said their GP ignored or dismissed their pain, with partners/spouses (26 per cent) and friends (21 per cent) reacting similarly.

“The Gender Pain Gap Index Report couldn’t have come at a better time, with the recent launch of the government’s 10-year women’s health strategy earlier this year,” said Bruce Charlesworth, chief medical officer at Nurofen.

“Women and their pains have been ignored in the system for too long. We understand that tackling gender bias in pain management is only a starting point and that in future, measures should be taken to tackle the gender bias in different fields of medicine.

“However, now we know more about the extent of the gender pain gap, we’re taking decisive steps to help close the gap.’’

When experiencing pain 74 per cent of women said they regularly choose self-care over seeing a healthcare professional, compared with 60 per cent of men.

Nearly a third of women asked said they didn’t want to waste their healthcare professionals’ time, and 27 per cent said it was easier to self-diagnose due to wait times.

Both men and women surveyed agree that the most important change they would like to see to help close the gender pain gap is more understanding from healthcare professionals, but more women than men believe that this is an important change.

Following the publication of the report, Nurofen has announced more measures to identify and implement actions that drive change for women.

The giant is aiming to better study and understand women in its research, consider gender when interpreting findings, develop more tools for women and invest in training to specifically support healthcare professionals to identify gender biases

Janet Lindsay, CEO at Wellbeing of Women, in support of Nurofen’s Gender Pain Gap Index Report, said: “We hear time and time again of women being dismissed or not taken seriously when it comes to their pain.

“Many women feel they need to put up with discomfort and pain, and that this is a ‘normal’ part of women’s health – and this is completely unacceptable.

“The Nurofen Gender Pain Gap Report highlights the urgent need to address the stark inequalities around women’s pain.

“We must all work together to close the gender health gap once and for all, by improving research, and ensuring better access to information, care and support for women,” she added.