Women’s health care is vital and highly depended on by both women and men. However, the quality of their care is often overlooked. That goes for all care: general, reproductive, and emergency care. This care is dismissed even more for women of color and women in poverty. If women’s health is so important, why is it dismissed so quickly even by female health care professionals? Why do we let ourselves be ignored? How can we protect ourselves from neglect?

A study revealed that women having heart attacks waited 29% longer to be seen in an ER than men showing the same symptoms. When they were seen, it was brushed off as anxiety or stress. The difference in care comes from multiple factors, a major one being that health studies are based on male anatomy and symptoms. Any studies done on women are most often white, meaning that women’s experience of health and illnesses is understudied, especially if they’re women of color. For example, women of color are 50% less likely to be diagnosed with endometriosis – an excruciating condition that can cause infertility – than white women.

Black and native women have a three times higher maternal death rate than white women. The overall maternal death rate has steadily increased from 1999 to 2020 because women of color are less likely to receive quality healthcare. We can ensure we are receiving quality care by standing up for ourselves even if it means switching doctors or going to a women’s clinic, or joining an activist group. overall women’s health is overlooked and understudied and we as women must advocate for ourselves and each other.