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Why Don’t We Take Women’s Chronic Pain Seriously?

Laura Frances
women's chronic pain

Laura Frances

For those living with chronic pain, each day is a balancing act of managing pain levels, fighting bone-deep exhaustion, and trying to keep stress levels at bay. But for women living with chronic pain, the impact it has on their lives can be made even worse when society doesn’t take it seriously.

A 2021 study analysing the gender inequalities in chronic pain across 19 European countries found that 62.3 per cent of women, as opposed to 55.5 per cent of men, reported living with some type of chronic pain.

A 2008 research paper, which surveyed more than 85,000 participants, shows that across 17 countries, chronic pain was more prevalent in women than in men. It has also been found that women are much more likely to suffer from Fibromyalgia, and it is estimated that up to 90 per cent of those diagnosed with this chronic pain disorder are female.

The reason why more women suffer from chronic pain remains unclear. However, health professionals are inclined to believe that oestrogen levels and hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle are important factors. Results from a study on mice in 2015 posed the theory that men and women process pain differently due to how the cells in their immune systems communicate. As a result, “male mice cannot be used as proxies for female pain research”. This makes an extremely interesting point when taking into account the fact that pain research is most commonly carried out on male participants.

Chronic Pain Perception

When hearing people describe women, how often have you heard the terms ’emotional’, ‘sensitive’, ‘hysterical’, or ‘dramatic’?

“These false and misogynistic gender stereotypes have contributed to women’s pain being taken less seriously by society”

For centuries, women have been viewed as the weaker sex and often regarded as being overly sensitive or having a tendency to exaggerate. These false and misogynistic gender stereotypes have contributed to women’s pain being taken less seriously by society – including the health professionals whose job it is to take care of us.

A study carried out in 2021 exposed a shocking gender bias in how we perceive men’s and women’s pain. Researchers found that when men and women expressed the same intensity of pain, male patients were ultimately deemed by observers to be in more pain than female patients despite both groups displaying similar levels of discomfort. Observers also recommended psychotherapy as the primary form of treatment for a higher proportion of female patients, with male patients being recommended medication instead.

In a literature review on gender norms and the treatment of pain, men were repeatedly viewed as “stoic” or “brave”, even by clinical researchers and physicians. Women, on the other hand, were often described as “hysterical” and “emotional” and were perceived to be fabricating their pain as if it was “all in their head”.

The History of the ‘Hysterical Woman’

Hysteria was one of the first known mental disorders to be attributed to women and dates as far back as 4000 years. Sigmund Freud named hysteria an exclusively “female disease” in the early 20th century. Throughout history, women’s experiences of being accused of hysteria are well-documented, most notably throughout the 1600s, when many were commonly accused of witchcraft. So-called “witches” would be burned at the stake, thrown in water and left to drown, or hanged in front of large crowds of onlookers.

In the Victorian era, women were often branded as “hysterical” for behaving in ways that were outside the norm of their designated roles as caregivers and bearers of children. The reasons for branding women as “hysterical” or accusing them of witchcraft were wide-ranging and ridiculous, including but not limited to “being in bad company”, “rigorous intellectual study”, and a tendency to cause trouble.

“the label of the ‘hysterical woman’ is still ever present in our vocabulary”

This tendency to label women “mentally ill” simply for having a mind and a voice of their own is a patriarchal measure of control used to ostracise those who did not conform, which continues to permeate society today.

Even though we may no longer see women being burned at the stake or hanged in the village square, the label of the “hysterical woman” is still present in the public consciousness. A horrifying example of this is when women speak out about being victims of sexual assault or abuse, and society’s knee-jerk reaction is to doubt the victim’s credibility and label them as liars and attention seekers.

Given the fact that the label “hysterical” has been present for centuries, it’s easy to see how this has harmed women in so many ways, including in their experiences with chronic pain.

Women of Colour and Chronic Pain

It would be unwise to ignore racial bias when discussing women’s experiences with healthcare professionals, particularly when it comes to gynaecological conditions such as endometriosis. Endometriosis is a chronic inflammatory condition that affects up to 190 million women of reproductive age globally. This condition presents symptoms such as chronic pelvic pain, heavy periods, and infertility and can severely impact people’s quality of life.

“Women are paying with their lives for gender inequalities in healthcare”

Unfortunately, there is a huge lack of research and literature in existence regarding black women and their experiences with chronic pain. However, of the studies that do exist, the findings show that black women are 50 per cent less likely to receive a diagnosis of endometriosis. The likelihood of endometriosis in black women is still mostly unknown due to the lack of quality research into the condition’s effects on women of colour. There is no definitive evidence that endometriosis affects white women more than any other race. Yet, the majority of research into the condition has been carried out on white participants, causing it to be regarded as “a White woman’s disease”.

The Ultimate Price

When we don’t believe women about their pain, it not only makes their lives miserable. Women are paying with their lives for gender inequalities in healthcare. We must work as a society towards advocating more strongly for improved experiences for women and to eradicate the misogyny and gender stereotyping that prevents us from being able to close the gender health gap.

For more information about what’s being done to improve women’s healthcare experiences, check out Wellbeing of Women’s Work, which has invested more than £66 million in research to transform women’s health and wellbeing. You can also head to Elly, the East London International Women’s Health Charity, to learn more about their mission to improve the quality of maternal healthcare in the UK and internationally.

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Featured image courtesy of Karolina Grabowska via Pexels. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.

Laura is a freelance writer with a keen interest in health and lifestyle content, and a lover of poetry, true crime and Greek mythology. She is an Editorial Assistant with Scotland Grows Magazine - Scotland's only digital gardening magazine, with readers in over 60 countries worldwide. As a proud feminist and someone who lives with chronic illness, she believes in the importance of having open conversations around women's health issues and working to increase representation in healthcare.

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