Medicine must help people live better. The medical profession is expected to listen, with their skills but without prejudice linked to gender or origin. However, things do not always happen this way. In France, a report published in 2018 by a group of feminist and anti-discrimination associations has shown the significance, in particular within the emergency services, of a diagnosis that cannot be found in any medical book: “Mediterranean syndrome”. In summary, a patient is less likely to be taken seriously if they have an Arabic or African sounding name – racist prejudice ascribing to these people a “natural tendency” to overreact …
Gender bias affects all categories of women. The academic world, where the doctors of tomorrow are trained, has become aware of this, since in Geneva, the University’s Faculty of Medicine now places its teaching in a gender perspective.
What about clinical pharmacology? It is “colossally late,” says Antoinette Péchère, a member of the Equality Commission at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Geneva, and an observer of gender bias in her discipline for more than 20 years. The importance is recognized of guaranteeing an equal distribution during the early stages of research. Testing drugs also from the point of view of the female body is justified in particular because of physiological differences. But we are not there yet. And yet the findings will apply equally to women and men.
In addition, there are disparities in the screening and management of many pathologies. Gender biases distort diagnoses, with an impact on patient health. This is the case in cardiology for women, while depression is underdiagnosed in men: stereotypes, in the end, hurt everyone.
Things are gradually changing and greater participation of women in research will help. By becoming more aware of gender biases and encouraging good practices, the community would acquire a truly ethical and egalitarian medicine.
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