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Women’s Pain is Often Ignored
From doctor’s offices to car crashes, women are left to hurt
A pregnant friend of mine was aghast. She’d just spoken to an acquaintance who encouraged her not to take an epidural during her upcoming labor. Taking an epidural was seen as weak, unwomanly: something she could do without.
“Is it okay if I ask for one?” she asked me, pale. “I’m worried about the pain.”
I told her to absolutely take it if she felt she needed it. After all, I get Novocaine when I get a cavity filled; why should a woman go without pain medication when giving birth?
But there is a widespread assumption, even in the medical field, that women don’t need pain relief. Women are treated less for pain, even for the same conditions, and wait longer for pain medications. I saw a recent story that described how women often get no pain management for IUD insertion. What’s going on?
The new book Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, by Caroline Criado Perez, explores how women suffer in a world designed for men.
The standard of medical care is still modeled after the health needs of men. For example, what are the classic symptoms of a heart attack? Chest pain, shortness of breath, pain radiating to your shoulder. Present at an ER with those, and…
