Until 1990, it was common for health studies to be carried out almost exclusively on men. The result is that doctors and scientists know much less about women’s bodies, women’s illnesses and women’s reactions to drugs than about men’s health issues. The reason for the focus on men is that it is difficult to include pregnant women in a trial. Another reason that is often provided is that women have fluctuating hormone levels. “It is much cheaper to study one sex,” is a comment given by a male scientist (Angela Saini: Inferior. 2017, p. 58). The tendency to focus on males, researchers now realise, may have harmed women’s health. Heart attacks for instance, show themselves differently in women than in men. Therefore they are often not easily recognised, and women die or suffer more than men would.
In the Netherlands, Hella de Jonge, a female documentary maker and expert suffering from heart failure herself, started the Female Heart Foundation. Watch the documentary (English subtitled):
Starting in 2016, the USA and EU implemented laws that require equal inclusion of women in medical research and trials.
Kufikia mwaka wa 1990, ilikuwa kawaida kwa masomo ya afya kufanywa karibu tu kwa wanaume. Matokeo ni kwamba madaktari na wanasayansi wanajua kidogo sana juu ya miili ya wanawake, magonjwa ya wanawake na athari za wanawake kwa dawa kuliko juu ya masuala ya afya ya wanaume. Sababu ya kuzingatia wanaume ni kwamba ni vigumu kujumuisha wanawake wajawazito katika jaribio. Sababu nyingine ambayo mara nyingi hutolewa ni kwamba wanawake wana viwango vya homoni vinavyobadilika-badilika. "Ni nafuu sana kujifunza jinsia moja", ni maoni yaliyotolewa na mwanasayansi wa kiume (Angela Saini: Inferior. 2017 (p. 58). Watafiti sasa wanatambua kwamba mwelekeo wa kukazia fikira wanaume huenda ukawa umeharibu afya ya wanawake. Kwa mfano, mshtuko wa moyo huonekana kwa njia tofauti kwa wanawake kuliko kwa wanaume. Kwa hiyo mara nyingi hazitambuliwi kwa urahisi, na wanawake hufa au kuteseka zaidi kuliko wanaume. Hella de Jonge, mtengenezaji wa filamu za maandishi na mtaalamu wa moyo wa wanawake nchini Uholanzi, alianzisha shirika la Women's Heart Foundation. "Kuanzia mwaka 2016, Marekani na Umoja wa Ulaya zilianzisha sheria zinazohitaji wanawake kuingizwa kwa usawa katika utafiti wa matibabu na majaribio."""