Abstract

Gender competence in medicine

Author(s): Priska Wikus

Since the previous century, gender mainstreaming has been attempting to gain a foothold in our culture. The goal is to achieve gender equality at all societal levels, enforcing the equal status of all genders. However, the so-called ‘gender gap’ is still evident in many areas, including medicine with the ‘gender health gap’. The evidence shows that men continue to be at the center of (medical) research, with an androcentric worldview and strong binary thinking persisting. This has severe consequences for medicine, often leading to misdiagnoses or delayed diagnoses for other genders: heart diseases in women are frequently not recognized or identified too late. Pain is more often unjustifiably diagnosed as psychosomatic in women, as they are perceived as sensitive and emotional from a young age. Non-binary individuals are almost entirely absent in medical research. Medical insights into gender differences are relevant to all healthcare professions, as symptoms need to be interpreted and treated in a gender-sensitive manner to rule out contraindications and provide fast and correct treatment.