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Fitness & Wellness
November 5, 2022

Why Are Women’s Health Issues Always Neglected And Pushed Aside?

Women’s health rarely gets the importance and attention it deserves, and one reason is that people have a flawed understanding of what the words Women's health means.

Asfiya Rahman
Why Are Women's Health Issues Always Neglected And Pushed Aside?

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Women’s health rarely gets the importance and attention it deserves, and one reason is that people have a flawed understanding of what this term means.

For most people, women’s health boils down to three issues.

Pregnancy!

First, are you pregnant? You can turn up at a hospital with compound fractures on all four limbs, impaled on a spear, and yet the first question you will be asked is your last period date.
Because you see, the main purpose of a woman’s existence is to carry on the family line, her womb is the most important part of her, so obviously that is the first question one is asked.

Pain is part of the female experience

The second issue is this weird concept that women should welcome pain. The so-called normal delivery involves your body being ripped in half, and yet it is considered better not to take any pain medication because this is the pain that all women live for.
I think it’s weird that the so-called weaker sex is the one that is told to bear the pain. If all pain is good, why are patients given numbing agents at the dentists?
Surely we should just silently bear the pain of getting our teeth ripped out but since that is something men also face, so the pain is not necessary.
Time and again I read articles where women are told they don’t have to suffer in silence.

Do not be a martyr

But the truth is it’s not enough to ask for pain medication; since women are considered such silly, simple creatures they can’t be expected to know if they are in real pain, so they must have someone else advocate for them.
Men on the other hand never have to be told to ask for pain medication because they will raise heaven and hell at the slightest discomfort and no one will tell them to bear it.
The worst patient in the world for many doctors is an independent woman who knows what her problem is and what she needs.
Female symptoms of common diseases are routinely dismissed, and women are often told that they are magnifying the pain and that they must learn to bear it.
If you have battled these two issues and still have not thrown in the towel, you will meet the last and biggest issue — hormones!

Hormones!

Whenever a woman insists on a course of treatment, she is told that she doesn’t understand and that the real reason is her hormones. Hormones are what make women ‘unreasonable’. (they are almost as bad an influence as ‘modern culture’, need I say more?)
It becomes obvious, therefore, that men are the best to decide what women are feeling and what they need.
If you are lucky, the man in question will hear you out and then—  consider whether your opinion on what your body is going through matters or not.
So next time you have a health issue, remember to advocate for yourself loud and clear because, sister, no one else will.
Image source: s-c-s from Getty Images and mangostar studio, free on CanvaPro

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About the Author

Asfiya Rahman

Asfiya Rahman, a management graduate, is a teacher by occupation and a writer by inclination. She has published many short stories in different publications and is the author of the sports drama trilogy Wild, Wild read more...

17 Posts | 21,049 Views

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