The European Parliament yesterday backed a report calling for stronger EU action to tackle gender inequalities in healthcare, highlighting long-standing gaps in medical research, diagnosis and treatment that continue to affect women across Europe.
MEPs voted 390 in favour, 218 against and 29 abstentions on Wednesday to adopt the report, which argues that gender inequalities in health are multifaceted and amount to a violation of fundamental rights.
At the heart of the debate is a long-standing imbalance in medical research. MEPs point to decades of research and clinical practice centred largely on the male anatomy, arguing that the consequences are felt throughout the healthcare cycle, from clinical trials and diagnosis to treatment and access to care.
The Parliament says health policy, medical research and clinical practice must be based on robust scientific evidence, objective biological facts concerning women and men, and the highest standards of medical expertise.
MEPs are calling for sex-sensitive research design across the entire research cycle, including greater efforts to include pregnant and breastfeeding women in clinical trials. They also want EU-funded projects to systematically collect data disaggregated by sex and gender.
The report calls for a stronger gender perspective within the European Health Data Space, while warning that artificial intelligence used in healthcare could reproduce or amplify existing gender and racial biases.
The Parliament is also urging the European Commission to set clear, public and measurable targets for tackling gender inequalities in health, including through a comprehensive EU strategy on women’s health.
Among the conditions highlighted in the report are endometriosis, menopause symptoms, cardiovascular disease, migraines, infertility, osteoporosis, diabetes and mental health conditions, many of which MEPs say remain under-researched or under-diagnosed.
The report also calls for action against harmful practices, including forced abortion and sterilisation, denial of abortion care, intersex genital mutilation, and obstetric and gynaecological violence. It stresses the need to ensure high-quality maternal healthcare for pregnant women.
Following the vote, rapporteur Billy Kelleher (Renew group) said women’s health had been “under-researched, underfunded and too often overlooked for far too long”.
“The consequences are felt by millions of women who wait too long for a diagnosis or struggle to get the care they need,” he said, adding that the Parliament had sent a clear message that women’s health must move higher up the political agenda and be treated as a major health priority.
Read more:
