Gender bias in biomedical and medicinal research has always maintained a “male tilt” throughout history. Recently, the NIH addressed the presence of gender-bias in medicinal research by increasing funding in gender-based research done on mice (Bichell). Gender–based medicine was only developed recently from the increasing concern in women’s health. In her research, Dr. Kautzy-Willer found 306274 results for “women’s health” when searching in a scientific literature database, but only 3107 results when searching for “men’s health”. Her observation reveals how male subjects are used as the primary model for creating treatments. Yet these treatments, specifically designed based on male bodies, are often applied on women (Horowitz).
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It is a universal classification that applies to both humans and animals. Gender, on the other hand, is social representation that is “a uniquely human trait” (Holdcroft). Social, cultural, behavioral, psychological, environmental factors are all considered when observing gender differences. Although the two terms are clearly different, “sex differences” and “gender differences” are used interchangeably in the medical field. Most medical journals seem to utilize “gender” as the umbrella term to account for both “gender” and “sex”. This is done deliberately to minimize confusion “in the minds of policy makers” and also to prevent researchers from undermining the interactions between social and environmental differences in gender and biological differences in sex (Holdcroft). Thus, most gender-based medicine researchers assume that “gender is rooted in biology, but shaped by environment” (Holdcroft). These interactions can affect the cause of the disease, prognosis, the type of treatments given, and treatment response (Moncayo, Aarsvold, Alazaraki). However, consequences may arise when following a strict binary categorization. It ignores the health problems of intersex and gender-fluid patients. Unfortunately most medical journals fail to address this problem when discussing about gender-based medicine. Also abiding …show more content…
Historically, medicine has been a male dominated industry. Women were traditionally seen as “little men with uterus”, which speaks volumes about the lack of female representation in research (Mark). As more female academics are entering in the field of medicine, more conversations about gender-bias emerge to increase awareness in inequality (Kautzky-Willer). It was reported that female students were more likely to be interested in gender-based field of research than their male peers (Kautzky-Willer). Besides lack of interest, researchers are also reluctant of utilizing gender-based research because of the extreme difficulty in creating the most statistically unbiased experimental design (Holdcroft). The most basic level of experimental research is usually executed on mice. However because sex differences in certain breeds of mice don’t directly align with sex differences in humans, researchers are fearful of invalid results (Holdcroft). Also because “female hormonal influences throughout life are never static”, variability between female mice is much greater than male mice (Holdcroft). However when sex is taken into account, the experiment is usually conducted on female mice that are not fully developed in order to minimize hormonal variability (Holdcroft). This disregards female subjects
It is a universal classification that applies to both humans and animals. Gender, on the other hand, is social representation that is “a uniquely human trait” (Holdcroft). Social, cultural, behavioral, psychological, environmental factors are all considered when observing gender differences. Although the two terms are clearly different, “sex differences” and “gender differences” are used interchangeably in the medical field. Most medical journals seem to utilize “gender” as the umbrella term to account for both “gender” and “sex”. This is done deliberately to minimize confusion “in the minds of policy makers” and also to prevent researchers from undermining the interactions between social and environmental differences in gender and biological differences in sex (Holdcroft). Thus, most gender-based medicine researchers assume that “gender is rooted in biology, but shaped by environment” (Holdcroft). These interactions can affect the cause of the disease, prognosis, the type of treatments given, and treatment response (Moncayo, Aarsvold, Alazaraki). However, consequences may arise when following a strict binary categorization. It ignores the health problems of intersex and gender-fluid patients. Unfortunately most medical journals fail to address this problem when discussing about gender-based medicine. Also abiding …show more content…
Historically, medicine has been a male dominated industry. Women were traditionally seen as “little men with uterus”, which speaks volumes about the lack of female representation in research (Mark). As more female academics are entering in the field of medicine, more conversations about gender-bias emerge to increase awareness in inequality (Kautzky-Willer). It was reported that female students were more likely to be interested in gender-based field of research than their male peers (Kautzky-Willer). Besides lack of interest, researchers are also reluctant of utilizing gender-based research because of the extreme difficulty in creating the most statistically unbiased experimental design (Holdcroft). The most basic level of experimental research is usually executed on mice. However because sex differences in certain breeds of mice don’t directly align with sex differences in humans, researchers are fearful of invalid results (Holdcroft). Also because “female hormonal influences throughout life are never static”, variability between female mice is much greater than male mice (Holdcroft). However when sex is taken into account, the experiment is usually conducted on female mice that are not fully developed in order to minimize hormonal variability (Holdcroft). This disregards female subjects