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One day, an hour after the final call for visitors to leave, Professor Sue Matthews 鈥� now CEO of 鈥� found a man by his wife鈥檚 bedside in the gynaecology ward she was working at. After asking the man politely to leave, Matthews noticed he had tears in his eyes.

鈥淢y wife and I have just spent seven years and $35,000 trying to obtain the dream we just lost. You want me to leave her to grieve alone?鈥� he said. It was in reference to the dilation and curettage procedure his wife had just endured following a miscarriage.

The moment struck an emotional chord with Matthews, who vowed from then onward to rethink the way women鈥檚 health is managed 鈥� both under her watch and in a broader, societal context.

鈥淚 will never forget it. What seemed like a simple procedure from a medical perspective was life-altering for the woman and her husband. I realised then that we had been doing things wrong for years, by asking the women鈥檚 partners to leave,鈥� she said.

Since then 鈥� and following an extensive career in forensic sexual assault 鈥� Matthews has advocated passionately for the better treatment of women in the healthcare system.

She now sits on several committees, including the and , where she also chairs the Women鈥檚 Pain Inquiry.

In each role, she takes a stand against inequities in women鈥檚 health care. Medically, these include the 20鈥�30% higher rates of misdiagnosis among women and the four additional years it takes for women to get diagnosed, relative to men.

Experientially, they include issues like medical gaslighting and pain minimisation.

Stigma, politicisation and research bias

When asked where these inequities stem from, Matthews points to historically biased practices within governments and medical research.

鈥淲e have seen recently, in the USA, how women鈥檚 health 鈥� in particular their sexual and reproductive health聽鈥� is often politicised, in a way that men鈥檚 never is,鈥� she said.

鈥淲e have also seen in our lifetime terms like 鈥榟ysteria鈥櫬犫�� which stems from the Greek word 鈥榰terus鈥� 鈥� being used as formal medical diagnoses.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 less visible is the ongoing exclusion of women in medical trials. This is often justified on the basis of women鈥檚 hormonal volatility聽鈥� but, in my view, this is the very reason women should be the focus of medical trials.鈥�

Lessons hard-earned

Indeed, although 70% of the people who experience chronic pain are women, 80% of pain studies are conducted on men or male mice.

This has already seen catastrophic health outcomes for women.

In 2016, researchers noticed that a sleeping pill, widely prescribed in the USA, was causing a spike in road accidents the morning after women had taken it.

The drug was being metabolised differently by women, but this side effect had been missed in the trial regime, given the exclusion of women participants.

Major health issues, like heart attacks, are also rarely considered through a woman鈥檚 lens.

鈥淲hen we hear the term heart attack, we tend to conjure up an image of a person clutching their chest when, in reality, women can experience cardiac arrest very differently. For women, it often presents as indigestion, shoulder, neck or tooth pain,鈥� Matthews said.

A consequence of this is that women鈥檚 pain is often not taken as seriously, she added.

鈥淲omen presenting with pain can be perceived as hysterical and are more likely than men to be given antidepressants or antianxiety medication, instead of the treatment they actually require.鈥�

Driving change

While Matthews is excited to see women鈥檚 health issues being taken more seriously over time, she says there is a way to go before they are given equal weight to men鈥檚. To help drive this change, she is advocating for the inclusion of women participants in all future medical research.

鈥淭his is one of the most impactful ways we can improve health equity for women,鈥� she said.

鈥淎t the very least, the public should be made aware if a drug has been approved on the basis of male-only trials.鈥�

However, her efforts do not stop at the broader, policy level.

Just this month, Matthews sent an email to key government leaders reporting that a national shortage in migraine medication would disproportionately affect women. She also works tirelessly to ensure that daily care at the Royal Women鈥檚 黑料吃瓜群网 is delivered without bias or judgment.

鈥淭he reason we have a standalone women鈥檚 hospital is not just to provide four walls of care. It is to make sure we are adequately supporting the most vulnerable patients and advocating for health equity,鈥� she said.

A mother to two girls and a grandmother to one, Matthews said her drive to improve health equity will never wane.

And, on days where she feels disheartened by the slow pace of change, she thinks back to that night on the gynaecology ward and remembers her 鈥榳hy鈥�.

Image source: Royal Women's 黑料吃瓜群网.