No More Excuses: Support Her Health
Part Three of a three-part series on how the system fails women’s health
Earlier this month – and the reason Part Three is late – I made a rare decision: I put me and my health first.
I’ve had a cold for a month, one that comes and goes, leaving me okay some days and exhausted and ill the next. With all my commitments, I ploughed on – like women do – but after waking for another day feeling drained and exhausted, I sent out a message saying I was taking time off to do nothing but recuperate.
Yes, it was “just a cold”. But it was a cold that was impacting my life and telling me it was time to slow down and look after myself. So I did because I was ill and my body needed to recover.
So why did it feel self-indulgent? Why did I feel I had to explain myself so much? Because that’s what the silence around women’s health does: it makes us feel every aspect of our health is unimportant.
This is what happens when the silence becomes systemic – baked into medical training, policy and culture.
But if that system was built, it can also be rebuilt.
And it has to be because women are still being failed. Our health isn’t a niche, it’s not “specialist” and it’s not a luxury. It’s half the population.
So what does real change look like?
1. Teach Us the Truth Sooner
It starts with what girls are told. We need education that doesn’t just tick a box with a leaflet and a pad. Every girl should understand her body – how it works, what’s common, what’s not and when to seek help.
That means a national, evidence-based curriculum that covers menstrual health, reproductive conditions, contraception, fertility, menopause and mental health – not just in biology lessons, but in PSHE and pastoral care. And boys and men need to hear it too. Silence thrives when only one group is given the facts.
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Mind you, when I was talking to a charity professional about women’s health last week, it was brilliant to hear how open boys are becoming to talking about menstruation and “women’s things” – as we were taught to put it.
The future is looking bright. Let’s get the present that way, too.
2. Train Health Professionals Properly
Doctors, nurses and allied health professionals must be equipped to recognise and respond to women’s symptoms without defaulting to “it’s anxiety” or “it’s stress”.
That means:
- Mandating women’s health modules in medical training
- Including conditions like endometriosis, PMDD, adenomyosis and menopause in diagnostic pathways
- Listening to and understanding women’s descriptions of pain
The UK government’s own 2022 Women’s Health Strategy for England said the system doesn’t listen to women. So listen and change what you teach.
3. Fund the Research. All of It.
We cannot fix what we refuse to study.
That means:
- Equitable inclusion of women (and trans and non-binary people) in clinical trials
- Targeted research funding for under-investigated conditions like PMDD, fibroids, menopause and postnatal health
- Disaggregating data by sex and also race, disability and class to see who’s falling through the cracks
Without research, our suffering stays anecdotal – and anecdotal pain is easy to ignore.
4. Redesign the Workplace
No woman should have to choose between her job and her health.
That means:
- Normalising flexible sick leave and phased returns
- Offering menopause and menstrual health policies
- Equipping managers with training – not just HR handbooks – to support their teams without shame
If pain and fatigue cost the UK economy over £8 billion in lost work, this is not a “women’s issue.” It’s an economic one.
5. Representation in the Room
Women must be shaping the decisions that affect our health. Not just as patients, but as leaders.
We need:
- Women with lived experience on NHS advisory boards – meeting regularly, not just once a year
- Community-led panels informing public health campaigns
- More women – and more diversity – in Parliament, policy and public life
Because when you’re not in the room, your needs don’t get mentioned.
6. Break the Shame. Loudly.
Ultimately, this is cultural. The silence won’t break simply through funding or policy, it breaks when we speak. When we name our pain. When we stop apologising for it. When we say “this matters” and don’t back down.
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That means telling our stories and demanding better. Also, back grassroots campaigns (like Pausitivity!) that put lived experience at the heart of their demands. Ask your child’s school what they’re teaching and how. Write to your local politician – your MP and your MSP/MS – and ask them what they’re doing to help women’s health (it’s election time in Scotland and Wales next year, so remind them you’re a voter!)
But most importantly: talk to each other. Out loud, not whispers in toilets or behind closed doors. Don’t be ashamed to say it: “I’m not fine – and I shouldn’t have to be.”
We Were Never the Problem
Women have been told, over and over, to cope. To get on with it, to not make a fuss, that “everyone feels like this”.
But not everyone does – and anyway, even if they did, it wouldn’t make it right.
We are not too sensitive. We are not too emotional. We are not imagining it and we are not malingerers. The system wasn’t built for us.
It’s time to build a better one. Together.
