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Being heard: women and medicine
The gender health gap, heart attacks in women, weight stigma, lipoedema, and how to walk into the GP and get taken seriously.
6 guides by Sian Anderson. Every clinical claim links to its source. Information, not medical advice. Updated 5 November 2026.
When the government asked women in England about their health care in 2021, 84% of those who answered said there were times they were not listened to by health professionals. That finding shaped the 2022 Women's Health Strategy for England, which a renewed strategy replaced in April 2026.
For decades, much of medicine treated the male body as the default. Women were left out of many drug trials, and symptoms that look different in women were missed. This is evidence and systems catching up, not women against men. Plenty of the people closing the gap are male doctors and researchers.
These guides give you the evidence and the words. What a heart attack looks like in women. How weight bias affects care and how to ask for your symptom to be looked at on its own merits. Why lipoedema is so often mistaken for ordinary weight gain. And how to prepare for an appointment so you leave with a plan.
Every guide in this section
Getting heard at the GP: how to prepare and what to ask
How to prepare for a GP appointment so your symptoms are taken seriously: a symptom diary, questions to ask, chaperones, second opinions and your NHS rights.
Heart attack symptoms in women: call 999 and say the words
Women are 50% more likely than men to get the wrong first diagnosis after a heart attack. The symptoms, the delays in numbers, and why to call 999 at once.
Weight stigma in healthcare: getting your symptom looked at
What weight bias in healthcare looks like, the evidence of harm, what NICE asks of clinicians, and words to get your symptom looked at on its own merits.
Lipoedema: the fat disorder often mistaken for weight gain
Lipoedema causes painful fat on the legs and arms, mostly in women, and diet barely shifts it. The signs, how it differs from obesity, NHS care and the jabs.
Tired all the time: the causes in women and the tests to ask for
Iron, thyroid, menopause, sleep apnoea, low mood, eating too little, coeliac disease and B12: common causes of tiredness in women and the tests to ask for.
Where this overlaps
Bodies do not sort themselves into chapters. These guides from other sections come up again and again alongside this one.
- Autoimmune conditions in women: why they are more common (From first period to 70 and beyond)
- Endometriosis: symptoms, the wait for diagnosis and what helps (Periods, pain and hormones)
- PCOS and weight loss medicines: what to expect (Weight loss medicines and women)
- NHS screening for women: cervical, breast and bowel by age (From first period to 70 and beyond)
- Heart health after the menopause: the numbers to know (From first period to 70 and beyond)
- Perimenopause, HRT and weight loss medicines (Weight loss medicines and women)
- Walking: the exercise that fits a weight loss jab (Strength and movement)
- Iron, tiredness and heavy periods: the blood test to ask for (Women's health checks)
Being heard: women and medicine: questions
What can I do if I feel my GP is not listening?
Ask for a longer appointment, bring a symptom diary, say what you are worried it might be, and ask what the plan is if things do not improve. You can ask to see another GP at the practice. The getting heard guide covers your rights under the NHS Constitution.
Are heart attack symptoms different in women?
Chest pain is still the most common symptom in women, but women are more likely to also have pain in the jaw, back or arms, breathlessness or sickness, and are more likely to delay calling 999. The heart attack guide sets out the evidence from the BHF.
Is this site anti-doctor or anti-men?
No. The guides rely on NICE, the NHS and medical research, written by and for clinicians of every gender. The point is to help you use that care well and to name the gaps where the evidence shows them.
Other sections
- Menopause and midlife
- Periods, pain and hormones
- From first period to 70 and beyond
- Weight loss medicines and women
- Women's health checks
- Eating well on a smaller appetite
- Strength and movement
- All guides
Sources for this page
- Results of the Women's Health: Let's talk about it survey (Department of Health and Social Care)
- Women's Health Strategy for England (Department of Health and Social Care, 2022)
- Renewed Women's Health Strategy for England (2026) (Department of Health and Social Care)
- Women and heart attacks (British Heart Foundation)