Last week’s announcement of a $215 million contribution by Melinda French Gates in support of women’s health couldn’t have come at a more urgent moment, especially considering that June 10 was Equal Research Day, marking the anniversary of the day in 1993 when women were finally required to be included in clinical research. The Contrarian recently flagged that the Trump administration has slashed the number of grants funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) focused on women’s health, hardly a surprise given that words such as “women” and “gender” are now banned from funding proposals.
This is not just about attacks on DEI, though, nor is it solely a Trump-fueled crisis. No matter which party has been in charge, our nation’s scientific and medical institutions have long failed women. The United States has enabled an inexcusable knowledge gap and dearth of innovation, which causes measurable harm — starting with the reality that American women die from avoidable causes more than in any developed country.
When it comes to women’s health and lives, now is definitely the time to think big — and that necessarily entails doing more with smaller dollars. Yes, we must press for equitable federal funding, which means voting for candidates who prioritize equity in public health and treating that commitment as non-negotiable. And yes, we must also lean on philanthropic leaders like Melinda French Gates to lead by example.
Ultimately, it means invoking every avenue of support to ease women’s burden of disease. It is well past time to end the era of sidelining and undermining women’s health, which we all should agree is a national disgrace.
The post America’s Medical Research System Has Been Failing Women for Generations appeared first on Ms. Magazine.
