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Medical misogyny - women are being systematically dismissed...

2 replies

JustineMumsnet · 23/03/2026 16:49

Hi all,
For years on Mumsnet, women have been describing the same experience when they try to get medical help.
Pain dismissed as “normal”.
Symptoms blamed on stress or hormones.
Concerns waved away before anyone investigates properly.
Any one story can be written off as bad luck. But when tens of thousands of women describe the same thing, year after year, it points to something bigger.
That’s why we’ve launched a Mumsnet campaign to tackle medical misogyny: the systemic dismissal, minimisation or disbelief of women’s symptoms in healthcare.
Earlier this month we published a report analysing nearly 100,000 first-person posts on Mumsnet between 2015 and 2025. The same patterns appear again and again: dismissal, delays, and women feeling they have to fight to be taken seriously.
We’ve already shared the report with Health Secretary Wes Streeting, and over the coming months we’ll be using the evidence gathered on Mumsnet to push for change. In the meantime, please do keep sharing your own experiences here and share the campaign wherever you can. The more noise we make, the harder this is to ignore
Thanks,
Justine

Medical misogyny - women are being systematically dismissed...

JustineMumsnet · 26/03/2026 16:07

Sporkmaiden · 25/03/2026 22:00

Is there a way for women to share their experiences and support this campaign if they don’t feel comfortable posting details publicly? (Multiple or long-running experiences with medical misogyny could mean having to leave information out, or not sharing at all, for those who’d prefer to avoid being identifiable to people IRL who’ve heard these stories before).

Hi Sporkmaiden if you're happy to email your story - [email protected] - we can use anonymously - it won't be linked to any of your mumsnet posts. Big thanks.

RhiannonEMumsnet · 24/04/2026 15:49

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your experiences on this thread - we’re reading them all and they’re continuing to help inform our campaigning.

As you might have seen, one of the asks of our Medical Misogyny campaign is improved education and training for clinicians, so that women’s health is better understood e.g. how conditions can present differently in women, as well as knowledge of sex-specific conditions like endometriosis.

At the moment there isn’t a consistent standard for this, which means - as many of you have described on this thread! - experiences can really vary depending on who you see. It’s something that comes up a lot on Mumsnet — women feeling their symptoms aren’t properly understood, or that their doctor isn't up to date with the latest guidance on things like HRT.

We’ve just launched a Parliamentary petition calling for mandatory training in women’s health. Too many women are still being dismissed, misdiagnosed or left waiting for years — and it shouldn’t be this way. If you’d like to help push for change, you can add your name here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/764079

Thanks,
MNHQ

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