Women make up roughly half the population—so why is our health still treated like a niche issue?
Let’s look at the numbers…
In 2024, just 10% of NIH funding went to women’s health research, and over the past decade, just 8.8% of NIH grant dollars went to studying women’s health. In early-phase clinical trials, fewer than 30% of participants are women. But why is this?
A major contributing factor is that it's easier and cheaper to test on men. By excluding women, researchers don’t have to account for female hormonal fluctuations, pregnancy, or fertility complications—factors that have been treated more like research inconveniences than essential human realities. This historic trend means men have long been considered the ‘default’ test subject.
The result: We simply know less about women’s health and how medical treatments impact women across the board.
But the impact isn’t just a lack of knowledge—it leads to real-life consequences and harm.
For example, the UK’s NHS recently came under fire for spending “more on maternity litigation than the total cost of running maternity services.” In other words: more medical funding is going toward settling negligence claims than improving the care that mothers and babies receive.
While advocacy for women’s health research is growing in some ways and declining in others, the global stats are generally dismal…
As of 2020, just 5% of global research and development funding was allocated to women’s health—4% specifically toward women’s cancers and a mere 1% for everything else. Of that, a quarter went to fertility research—leaving just a tiny fraction for maternal health, women’s mental health, gendered violence, and all other conditions.
According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine:
“Many fundamental questions about women’s health remain unaddressed by research. For example, female-specific conditions such as endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and uterine fibroids affect millions of women, and yet physicians lack clear guidance and innovative interventions to manage these often-debilitating conditions.”
Research around menopause and how pregnancy complications may lead to chronic conditions later in life are also significantly overlooked.
So, what can we do about it?
First, continuing to raise awareness is so important. That’s why we’re so grateful to you, our community, for being so open and honest about your experiences. From Sophie’s endometriosis, to Jona’s fibroids, to Holly’s breast cancer—your stories matter. And we’re so honored to learn from and alongside all of you.
We can also support organizations doing the work to change this disparity. For example, the Women’s Health Research Institute exists to expand, strengthen, and support the network of women’s health researchers both locally and globally. We (and you!) have supported them in the past with your Huha purchases.
And finally, we can continue to advocate for women’s health in our daily conversations, in how we vote, and how we show up (and speak up) for others.
