The Invisible Load: What Women Carry in Their Bodies

by Caitlin Cooper

The gender pain gap continues to shape women healthcare, leaving many navigating years of confusion before reciving answers.

A few hundred million women are diagnosed with a reproductive condition every year, and in 2023, I joined that statistic. 

Women, have a longstanding history of feeling like outsiders in their own bodies. A hereditary belief that pain and suffering must simply not exist in our worlds, a simple dismissal which puts us in wait times for up to two years, just to receive a medical consultation from a doctor. 

The last specialist gynaecology appointment I had, took me eleven months to obtain, almost a lifetime worth of pain to get there.  

Theres a quote from the television show Fleabag, that has always stuck with me. ‘Women are born with pain built in’, a gut-wrenching punch that women’s suffering has unfortunately become universal. It’s built into our healthcare, embedded in our culture, taxed through sanitary products for extra profit, exploited and ridiculed in media, left out of health research and studies. In every sense of the way, women have always been the punching bag. 

There is an actual name now, for the dismissal of women’s pain, in healthcare and society, called the ‘gender pain gap’, a sickly phrase sugarcoating the medical misogyny and bias that women are deemed fit to endure.  

Izzy Andrews, a woman who went through a similar health story to my own with the diagnosis of PCOS, argues that it’s not the healthcare industry that’s dismissive itself, but the lack of research around women’s health entirely.  

“I do not believe entirely that my pain was dismissed because I am a woman, I do however, think I have been dismissed because of the lack of research into PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), as a condition.” Izzy states. “There was a time where I called 111 because of severe pain, and the doctor I spoke to didn’t even know what PCOS was!” 

I remember the relief of when I finally got my diagnosis, a respite that all these symptoms and pain wasn’t just in my head. Izzy shares this sentiment, “Getting my diagnosis felt like the fear and confusion of my world had finally cleared. Finally getting an answer for my pain, suffering and confusion felt like justice. It was an opportunity for me to learn more about my condition and learn how to support myself, which is something I didn’t know how to do before.” 

This surely couldn’t just be the case for me though; there had to be other women that feel the same as I do. So naturally, I asked the one woman who knows me better than anyone.  

My mother, diagnosed with adenomyosis at the age of 53, a chronic endometrial condition where the tissues that line the uterus continues to grow, causing heavy menstrual bleeding, chronic pain and cramping, the battle of fixing her pain was not won just by getting the diagnosis. 

I sat next to her in the passenger seat of her car and started to ask her about her own journey with the healthcare industry. She begins to open up as she drives along the road. 

“I think it’s a bit too late for me now, there are probably procedures I could have had, or treatments that I could have tried.” She describes. “My condition meant that I couldn’t leave the house without taking products, I would have to think about where I was going and whether I could go to the bathroom. If I was going on holiday, I would have to think about whether I would have a period or not.”  

I ask her bluntly if she thinks her pain was dismissed because she was a woman. “Definelty, by the GP all the time, being told that the heavy bleeding was normal, and that pelvic pain was just pelvic pain.”, my mum states. 

“I don’t think that it helps that a lot of the people that are doctors diagnosing these conditions over the years have been predominantly male, and have never experienced those symptoms, so yeah, I do think there’s a stigma.” 

This repetitive story holds a mirror up to our society, and the realisation that whilst equality is levelling, there is still much to be done. 

And as the saying goes, mother does really know best. “I think women have got to stand up for themselves a little bit more and not just be dismissed. And they should seek further help and answers. They shouldn’t be put off when they receive negative advice or comments, and they shouldn’t just accept what the doctor is telling them”. She finishes. 

In an ideal world, we should do better. The healthcare system should be benefitting all, not just some. And the politics and systems should be put in place to secure safe practices for all. We’re not quite there yet, but these conversations spark change. Women need to continue talking, because the more we talk, the more we understand. And a bit more understanding, is all we ever need.