An anonymous source who works in women’s equality shared with Scarlet Threads how there are cracks in the system which is setting women back.
Medical misogyny
She said, “Women are going undiagnosed and living in pain because of the medical misogyny. We also know there’s a rise in crimes against women by men, and I think there’s also a large group of women who aren’t seeing that as well. We’re battling more than we ever have done, particularly politically with Trump and all the rest of it; that’s the bigger battle.”
“The Handmaid’s Tale just doesn’t feel that far away.” She adds.
“When you first start watching The Handmaid’s Tale, you’re like this is crazy, whereas now you’re like this could be the future.” She chuckles in disbelief. “I don’t know why I’m laughing because it’s terrifying, that is honestly the truth, it is really worrying.”
As our source revealed, one of women’s biggest nightmares in healthcare is medical misogyny, and many sources now say debilitating conditions such as endometriosis can take up to ten years to get diagnosed.
“Gynecological conditions, particularly, are something which gets overlooked.” Our source said.
“There needs to be more education, people need greater understanding of women’s health.”
The pay gap
But this isn’t where it ends. Women are stuck in the same roles, and the gender pay gap is as evident as ever.
“There’s still quite a lot of institutional things in the NHS which are causing the gender pay gap,” She says.
“Roles that were predominantly held by women are still paid less, you see that in HR, and you can see that in senior leadership positions like managers, compared to senior nurses, because nurses were usually female. Responsibility is probably really about the same, but the pay is much different.”
The impact on the trans community
Recently, trans women have been at the forefront of public debate, and that debate continues to grow. Our source revealed how trans women not only experience the medical misogyny of womenhood, but also face discrimination for their gender, and too many people are sitting on the fence on the topic. She spoke on the new Supreme Court Ruling.
“It’s a worrying step back.” She says. “I fight daily, and that’s not being political, being political.”
“I am LGBTQ, I’m a bisexual woman, so I feel part of that community, and I’m genuinely worried about our trans colleagues I’m also I’m also worried about patients and relatives. It was a sad day because we already knew there was a barrier in them accessing health care.” She added.
Violence against women
The hit TV series Adolescence sparked outcry on the current epidemic of violence against women, which is now ingrained in all parts of society, including the NHS. Our anonymous source is part of trying to find a solution.
“I’ve got a talk on active bystandership that is on the back of sexual safety work,” She says.
“I have the assistant director of Adolescence doing a talk on toxic misogyny, so that will be hard-hitting hitting but it’s really important because adolescence has got a lot of people talking.
“I think that this could be this could be your family next door, where something really bad could happen to a woman, and nothing drastic happened in adolescence for us to get there, it was just these bits in society, and I think that’s a really important message.” She added
Will it change
Our anonymous source actively stands up to challenge the barriers presented to women, expressing the frustration that there is still a long way to go.
He said, “I’m putting on this seminar on gender equality, and I have got 50 people booked on which is great, but only three of them, and it’s really hard to get people to see that women can’t do this on their own.”
“They need people around them, and the same with trans women.” She added. “Trans women need cis women to stand up for them, and that was something else for me. Would you be willing to stand up for somebody who isn’t like you? The answer is yes, I would. Yes, I will.”
