Gender-biased diagnosing is the idea that medical and psychological diagnosis are influenced by the gender of the patient. Several studies have found evidence of differential diagnosis for patients with similar ailments but of different sexes. Female patients face discrimination through the denial of treatment or miss-classification of diagnosis as a result of not being taken seriously due to stereotypes and gender bias. According to traditional medical studies, most of these medical studies were done on men thus overlooking many issues that were related to women's health. This topic alone sparked controversy and brought about question to the medical standard of our time. Popular media has illuminated the issue of gender bias in recent years. Research that was done on diseases that affected women more were less funded than those diseases that affected men and women equally.
History
The earliest traces of gender-biased diagnosing could be found within the disproportionate diagnosis of women with hysteria as early as 4000 years ago. Hysteria was earlier defined as excessive emotions; adapted from the Greek term, "Hystera", meaning "wandering uterus". These terms stemmed from mind-body associations regarding the uterus affecting women's overall health, especially emotionally and mentally. Within a medical setting, this hysteria translated to the over exaggeration of symptoms and ailments. Because traditional gender roles usually place women at a subordinate position compared to men, the medical industry has historically been dominated by men. This has caused for a misdiagnosis within females due to the large number male workers in the industry holding on to beliefs regarding gender stereotypes. These gender roles and gender biases may have also contributed to why pain associated with experiences unique to women, like childbirth and menstruation, were dismissed or mistreated.
Women's overall health has long been associated with their reproductive abilities; further compounded by traditional views of sex, female gender roles, and femininity. Emotional and mental health were correlated with reproductive functions; menstruation, fertility, labour; as well as societal expectations such as desire for children, motherhood, subservience, and femininity. More specifically, if a woman did not meet the expectations of reproductive functions (such as inconsistent menstruation cycles, inability to conceive or carry to term, as well as display negative reactions such as nausea, pain), it was assumed that she held resentment or non-desire to bear and raise children, as well as being defiant of her feminine nature and role. Conversely, if a woman were not to behave in alignment with femininity and gender role expectations, unable to maintain and care for family and housework, insubordinate, sick or in pain; then it were to mean they were mentally ill or disturbed, often diagnosed with hysteria. In 1948 some women volunteered to take part in an experiment designed to quantify pain in laboring women. During their labor, their hands were burned in order to try to measure their pain threshold with the option to quit at any time and to receive treatment. During childbirth and as it kept progressing, the females were unable to feel an increase in pain insomuch as many of them received second degree burns without realizing.
In a 1979 observational study, 104 women and men gave responses to their health in 5 areas: "back pain, headaches, dizziness, chest pain, and fatigue". When receiving these complaints, it was seen that doctors gave extensive checkups to men more often than women with similar complaints, supporting that female patients tend to be taken less seriously than their male counterparts with regard to receiving medical illnesses.
In 1990, the National Institutes of Health recognized the disparities in research of disease in men and women. At this time, the Office of Research on Women's Health was created, primarily to raise awareness of how sex affects disease and treatments. In 1991 and 1992, recognition that a "glass ceiling" existed showcased that it was preventing female clinicians from being promoted. In 1994, the FDA created an Office of Women's Health by congressional mandate.
The Women's Health Equity Act, passed in 1993, gave women the chance to participate in medical studies and examine the gender differences. Before the act was introduced, there had been no research done on infertility, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer, which are conditions prevalent to women's health.