3 myths that are holding back women’s health care today 

We’re now well into the 21st century but, incredibly, medical research, care and investment still default to the male body.

On Monday, President Joe Biden signed an executive order expanding U.S. government research on women's health, and announced a $200 million research investment to better understand women's health issues. This came on the heels of his State of the Union address, where the president highlighted the underfunding of women’s health research and called for $12 billion in investments to transform women’s health research and benefits millions of lives in the U.S.

We’re now well into the 21st century but, incredibly, medical research, care and investment still default to the male body. People typically think of women’s health as sexual and reproductive health, but the majority of the global women’s health burden is caused by conditions that affect women differently or disproportionately. These are just some of the findings in a new analysis by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the McKinsey Health Institute.  

The costs defy the imagination.  

Yes, women in the U.S. tend to live longer than men, but they spend about 25 percent more time in poor health, on average — nearly two-thirds of it in their working years. Our research showed that closing the women’s health gap could generate nearly $295 billion in the U.S. in annual, incremental GDP by 2040. Most of the gains would come from reducing disability in women and raising workforce productivity and participation — goals that every American can support.  

The big numbers are abstract; the personal costs could not be more concrete.  

One of us, for example, lost a beloved grandmother too early. Her doctors did not recognize her fatigue and indigestion as symptoms of heart disease, because women’s symptoms are often different from men’s. Diagnosed with depression, she was sent home, where she suddenly died of a heart attack. She left behind a husband she had been caring for around the clock as he struggled with a debilitating disease.  

Her story is unfortunately not uncommon, as the most recent data shows. Women are more than twice as likely to die after a heart attack than men. 

Women in every community make major contributions to the economy often while doing substantial unpaid work as caregivers. Closing the women’s health gap would have significant impact on our economy and add the equivalent of seven days of healthy life per woman per year, in addition to increasing GDP.  

Progress will require a health care system that is more equitable and accessible for women. To get there, we need to abandon common myths about women’s health and fuel action across industries and stakeholders. A few of the myths that stand in the way of progress:   

Myth: “Women’s health” refers to sexual and reproductive health 

Reality: About 56 percent of women’s health burdens stem from conditions that affect women differently or disproportionately, and yet sex-based differences are poorly understood. In its review of over 650 academic papers, the World Economic Forum and McKinsey Health Institute found that only half of interventions considered sex-specific evidence. Of those that had sex-based evidence available, 64 percent showed a disadvantage for women.  

Myth: Human biology isn’t gender-specific 

Reality: Many treatments and approaches to care, such as combined asthma inhalers and biological drugs for rheumatoid arthritis, are less effective for women. Women report serious adverse events from approved medicines 52 percent more frequently than men, and serious or fatal events 36 percent more frequently, based on data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Adverse Events Reporting System. Not surprisingly, the default to male biology means that women experience poorer health outcomes more frequently than men.  

Myth: Women and men can expect the same quality of care 

Reality: Women routinely face barriers, stigma and bias in health care systems designed for men — making female patients less likely to receive the same intervention for a given disease. A NIH study shows men are three times more likely to receive cardiac resynchronization therapy to control arrhythmia, for example.  

The public and private sectors can do much more to improve women’s health — a pillar of fiscal and social health. There is opportunity to invest more in women-centric research; collect and analyze more sex-, ethnicity- and gender-specific data; expand access to gender-specific care; create incentives for new financing models; adopt policies that do more to support women’s health; and strengthen women’s representation in decision-making across healthcare-related fields. 

Working together we can all raise awareness about the women’s health gap and advocate changes that benefit not just women, but the nation as a whole.  

Megan Greenfield is a partner and Lucy Pérez a senior partner at McKinsey & Company’s Boston office, where they are affiliated with the McKinsey Health Institute.