The gender health gap and Bristows’ Women’s Health Initiative

While women’s health research has been historically overlooked and underfunded, in recent years there has been a surge of activity amongst researchers, investors and policymakers focusing on promoting women’s health and closing the gender health gap. Women’s health, meaning female-specific diseases as well as general health conditions that affect women differently or disproportionately, is being increasingly recognised as a field in its own right. This article – the first in a series from Bristows as part of its Women’s Health Initiative – provides an overview of the scope of the women’s health space and its historical context, as well as briefly discussing some current developments in the sector, including the rise of femtech. It then introduces some of the key legal questions and challenges for those in the women’s health space, which we will be looking at throughout this series.

Defining women’s health

Women’s health covers the broad range of medical conditions and health outcomes which are specific to women. This can include diseases which are exclusive to the female anatomy, such as endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and gynaecologic cancers, as well as aspects of female reproduction and sexual health, such as menstruation, fertility, pregnancy, menopause and contraception.

However, defining women’s health as only those conditions which are experienced exclusively by women would present an incomplete and overly narrow picture. Rather, women’s health also encompasses general health conditions which, while not unique to women, can affect women disproportionately (meaning higher prevalence, eg cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis and certain autoimmune disorders) or differently (in terms of disease burden or presentation, eg atrial fibrillation, colon cancer). These differences may be due to biological, sociocultural or environmental factors. The line between female-specific conditions and general health issues in women can also be blurred; for example, pregnancy complications can significantly increase a woman’s risk of developing general chronic illnesses. However, these conditions are often less researched and understood.

Historical challenges in women’s health

One of the core challenges in women’s health is the persistent “male as default” approach which has been historically adopted in areas including research and development, education and training for healthcare professionals and the design of healthcare policies and services. Until the early 1990s, most clinical trials were conducted exclusively on men with the results simply extrapolated to women. Although there is greater gender parity in clinical trials today, as a result of historic male-only clinical trials and continued underfunding of research into women’s health conditions, data on disease presentation, progression and treatment efficacy in women remains limited across a range of conditions. This "women’s data gap" continues to have negative consequences for diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic efficacy amongst women, as well as hindering the development of treatments and healthcare plans tailored specifically for women.

Another central issue is the long-standing emphasis on mortality over morbidity in women’s health research. While men on average have shorter life expectancies, women typically spend a greater proportion of their lives in a poor health. A research bias towards life-span over “health-span” has meant that conditions which are not life-threatening but nevertheless have a profound impact on quality of life (such as fibromyalgia, chronic pelvic pain and perimenopausal symptoms) have historically been under-researched. A key focus of women’s health today is attempting to shift research towards a more holistic view of health outcomes in order to close this gap and improve long-term health for women.

Further compounding the challenges in the women’s health space is the influence of societal gender bias within the medical system. Women frequently report having their symptoms (particularly those relating to chronic pain, fatigue or mental health issues) being dismissed or not taken seriously by healthcare professionals, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as "medical gaslighting." The consequences of this are particularly acute for the diagnosis and treatment of conditions that lack clear physiological markers and rely heavily on the subjective experience of the patient.

Opportunities in women’s health 

Encouragingly, the landscape of women’s health is starting to shift, with the sector receiving growing attention from policymakers, investors, healthcare companies and the media. Although there is clearly still room for significant improvement, government initiatives such as the UK’s Women’s Health Strategy represent important steps towards closing the gender health gap and ensuring better representation of women in research and care. Likewise, private investment in women’s health is on the rise, with venture capital in particular increasingly recognising the unmet needs and market potential in this space.

One of clearest illustrations of progress in women’s health research can be seen by the rise of “femtech”, a rapidly growing sector focused on technology-based solutions for women’s health issues. Femtech sits at the intersection of advances in digital health technologies, a growing demand for personalised healthcare solutions and a rising awareness of the importance of women’s health. From apps that monitor fertility and menstrual health, to wearable devices tracking hormonal fluctuations, femtech covers a huge variety of both consumer products and medical devices. The term “femtech” was only coined as recently as 2016 by the founder of the period-tracking app Clue, yet in 2024 the global femtech market was valued at $28bn¹. Some estimate that the global femtech market will be worth over $100bn by 2030.² 

While the US continues to dominate the global femtech market, the European femtech sector is rapidly expanding. In 2023 Europe saw its first femtech unicorn – Flo Health, a UK-based period tracking app. Yet for all its success, Flo Health provides a window into the complex and nuanced issues at play in the women’s health space – as a start-up led by an all-male founding team, it has sparked extensive discussion about the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in attracting investment.

Bristows’ Women’s Health Initiative 

Our experts here at Bristows regularly advise on many of the complex and varied issues faced by companies operating in the women’s health’s space. Over this article series we’re going to be looking at some of the key legal issues faced by stakeholders in this sector.

We’ll be considering topics, including: 

• Regulatory: whether a femtech product would qualify as a medical device in the UK 
• Data Protection: key challenges in navigating the GDPR for femtech products 
• Artificial Intelligence: the benefits and pitfalls of AI for femtech 
• Corporate: how to navigate early-stage funding for femtech companies in the UK 
• IP Licensing: key licence terms in university spin-out deals in the women’s health space 
• Patents: patenting trends in the women’s health space 

To keep updated on this article series sign up for alerts here. 

Footnotes

• [1] https://dealroom.co/guides/femtech 
• [2] https://www.statista.com/topics/10267/femtech/#topicOverview