07/09/2025
Gender disparities in healthcare are pervasive and affect various aspects of medical practice, from diagnosis to treatment and research. A major contributor to these disparities is the historical underrepresentation of women in clinical trials and medical research.
Caroline Criado Perez’s popular book ‘Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men’ includes numerous statistics demonstrating inequality and how women are disadvantaged in society. Amongst our Women’s Health students, this book has been named as an inspiring and motivational resource.
Examples of such statistics include that in spite of the fact that women make up approximately 50% of the world’s population, women make up a relatively small percentage of participants in a number of medical research trials. For example, a 2016 review of the inclusion of women in US HIV research found that women made up only 19.2% of participants in antiretroviral studies, 38.1% in vaccination studies and just 11.1% in studies to find a cure.
The above statistics are particularly shocking in light of the fact that women represent 55%, over half of HIV-positive adults in the developing world, compounded further by the fact that women and girls face increased vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.
