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New Campaign Launched To Tackle UoN’s Gender Health Gap

India Rose Marriott

A student-led campaign has recently been launched with the aim of tackling the Gender Health Gap at the University. The Women*s Health Campaign, endorsed by the SU, aims to deconstruct the Gender Health Gap at the university and its health services such as Cripps, ensuring that issues that affect women* (and those assigned female at birth) are treated seriously and that the SU are giving students and staff the support they need. Impact’s Campus News Editor India reports on the new campaign.

The campaign was inspired by the experiences of Daisy Forster, who has suffered from ‘migraines and chronic headaches’ for nearly ten years, with no successful treatments medical or otherwise. Daisy told to Her Campus that, “After having a few discussions with my housemates, several of whom also suffer from long-term health conditions that primarily affect women, I decided that I had to do something about it.”

“I’ve always been told that my migraines and headaches are hormonal, and it’s become increasingly clear to me that science just doesn’t understand that female body and the chemicals that come with it”.

They aim to release a survey in early December 

Recent statistics show the sheer scale of the Gender Health Gap, with research stating that:

  • Women are more likely than men to die in situations where CPR is required
  • Women are more likely to wait longer for certain cancer diagnoses
  • Women are 50% less likely to receive painkillers after surgery – which leads to an immense 74% of female-identifying individuals stating that they feel as if they were overreacting
  • 85% of chronic migraine sufferers are women

The campaign is currently focused on raising awareness on social media to educate students on the Gender Health Gap as well as the conditions that affect women. They aim to release a survey in early December which will assess the support services available at the University, identifying what is need of improvement. According to Daisy, “the survey will also explore the health gap as an intersectional issue, and we will be able to analyse how it affects people of colour and non cis-gendered women differently.”

“Depending on the results [of the survey], we may pitch a policy change at the next Union Council, if we deem it necessary. Our hope is that the campaign will culminate into a Women*s Health Conference, which will take place in May (the University’s Disability Recognition Month) and will invite speakers from across the institution to speak on their experiences and research.”

For more information regarding the campaign and to get involved, check out their Instagram here.

India Rose Marriott


Featured image courtesy of National Cancer Institute via Unsplash. Image licence found here. No changes were made to this image.

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