The Societal Impact of Pain (SIP) welcomes references to pain in the European Parliament Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equity (FEMM Committee) Draft Report on gender inequalities in health, specifically as regards gender-specific conditions, and the Draft Opinion prepared by the Committee on Public Health (SANT Committee) for that same own-initiative report (INI).
Following input from the European Pain Federation EFIC to the FEMM Committee, the document’s explanatory statement cites the treatment of pain in women as an example of ingrained bias in diagnosis and care.
Several amendments submitted by FEMM and SANT Committee Members to the draft report also focus on gaps and challenges in women’s access to pain treatment and inclusion in health research, drawing on SIP’s contribution to the own-initiative report:
AI in healthcare and the replication of gender biases
Amendment 4 (SANT) highlights risks associated with the use of non-representative datasets in AI for healthcare purposes, which might lead to the downplay of female medical symptoms, particularly in pain management.
Gender-specific conditions
Amendments 95 (SANT) 105 (FEMM) and 291 (SANT) bring attention to under-researched and underdiagnosed major women’s health issues, such as endometriosis, pelvic pain disorders, and menopause, where pain is a prominent symptom.
Structural biases in health research and clinical practice
Amendment 123 (SANT) recognises sex- and gender-blind gaps in health research and structural biases in obstetric care, resulting in limited understanding and neglect of women’s pain, as well as delayed diagnosis, under-treatment, and poorer health outcomes.
Amendments 138 (FEMM) and 266 (SANT) note the routine dismissal of women’s pain in reproductive health as examples of obstetric and gynecological violence.
Amendments 277 (SANT) and 399 (FEMM) stress the need for increased EU research and innovation to better understand why women experience more pain.
Gender-sensitive medical training
Amendments 235 (SANT), and 340 (FEMM) consider it essential for EU Member States to integrate gender-sensitive healthcare training into their medical curricula, including in pain management and pain bias.
Amendments 277 (SANT) and 399 (FEMM) similarly call for specific training for healthcare professionals to reduce gender disparities in pain diagnosis and treatment.
Gender bias in the assessment and treatment of pain
Amendments 137 (FEMM), 273 (SANT) and 395 (FEMM) underscore the need for greater recognition of gender bias in pain diagnosis and care, noting that women’s pain is more likely to be underestimated, dismissed, or misdiagnosed compared to men’s, and stress the importance of ensuring equitable access to pain relief and duly considering women’s self-reported experiences of pain in all healthcare settings.
Further updates on the FEMM Committee INI and SANT Committee draft opinion will be provided in the coming months.