A new report from Monash University has found that gender inequities are entrenched even at the highest levels of health care.
Commissioned by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, the report provides a sweeping review of the literature addressing sex and gender bias in the health system.
Lead author of the report, Dr Maggie Kirkman from Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, says these inequities persist across a range of health issues and settings, from medical emergencies like heart attacks and stroke, to mental health care.
“Compounding the sex and gender-based discrimination we see at the point of care is a deeper bias in health and medical research, where historically the male body has been the focus of investigation,” she says.
As part of the review, the authors conducted a deep dive into Australia’s clinical practice guidelines to assess the standard of sex and gender awareness being reflected in the advice issued to health care practitioners in a wide range of health conditions and settings.
Findings
The findings, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, show that of the 80 clinical practice guidelines reviewed across 27 different areas of practice:
- 15% made no reference to ‘sex’ or ‘gender’
- More than 40% used the terms sex and gender incorrectly
- More than half didn’t include consideration of gender in clinical practice.
Tackling gender discrimination
Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon Ged Kearney MP, stresses the importance of tackling gender discrimination at every level of the health system.
“We owe it to women, girls and gender diverse people everywhere,” she says.
“As a former nurse, I know just how important clinical guidelines are. This report shows us current guidelines are letting Australian women down – it’s not good enough. I’m proud the Albanese Labor government commissioned this report through the National Women’s Health Advisory Council as part of our efforts to end medical misogyny.”
Recommendations
The report makes several recommendations.
Among them are a minimum requirement to report where there is a lack of sex or gender-specific evidence and increasing the participation of women and gender diverse people in guideline development panels.
Looking ahead
Ms Kirkman says she is optimistic that gender equity will be achieved in clinical guidelines in the future.
“Our findings have identified an important avenue for making an impact,” she says.
“Setting standards for clinical guidelines to address gender inequity has the potential to spark a transformative shift in practice, and mandatorily reporting gaps in sex and gender-related evidence will serve to target and prioritise future research.
“This is an easy game changer for women and gender-diverse people.”
