News release

From: Jean Hailes Foundation for Women's Health

Most Australian women unaware of medical research bias that has shaped their healthcare for generations

A new national survey of more than 3,600 Australian women has found that most women are unaware of the ways sex and gender bias in medicine may be putting their health at risk.

The 2025 National Women’s Health Survey, conducted by Jean Hailes for Women’s Health, found only 3 in 10 women were aware of sex and gender biases in medical research. Only around 1 in 3 knew that medicines have historically been tested mostly on men (32%) and that most laboratory research is conducted on male specimens (31%).

The findings come soon after the National Health and Medical Research Council’s announcement that researchers will need to consider sex and gender in their work – an initiative that brings Australia in line with international standards but relies on more women to participate in clinical trials to succeed.

Dr Sarah White, CEO of Jean Hailes for Women’s Health, says the findings highlight an urgent need for public awareness and a systems change in medical research.

“The Australian Government is investing millions in clinical trials to improve treatment and care, and that – along with the new funding requirements – is going to pay off for both women and men in the future,” Dr White said. “However, it will take a concerted effort from funders, researchers and women’s health organisations to motivate and, importantly, support women to participate in clinical trials in sufficient numbers.”

Prof Bronwyn Graham, Director of the Centre for Sex & Gender Equity in Health & Medicine at The George Institute for Global Health, which collaborated on the survey, says the problem runs deep across the evidence base underpinning modern medicine.

"Decades of clinical research conducted predominantly on men means the evidence base for treating women is incomplete. Medicines have been dosed for male physiology, symptoms have been characterised in men, and conditions that disproportionately affect women have been chronically underfunded. The women we surveyed are experiencing the downstream effects of those choices, often without knowing it."

Dr Lisa Murphy, CEO of Stroke Foundation, says women face a compounded risk from biological differences in how strokes present, a health system that can be slow to take women's concerns seriously, and from being systemically under-represented in clinical trials which shape how stroke care is delivered across the care continuum.

“It all starts before women even reach an emergency department. Women are more likely to experience delayed diagnosis and are less often suspected by paramedics and emergency dispatchers as having a stroke. Once they arrive at emergency departments with stroke symptoms, they have up to 25 per cent higher chance of being told it's something else. Not because their strokes are less serious, but because we're still not recognising how stroke can present differently in women. This is deeply concerning, because even the smallest delay in recognising a stroke can have catastrophic or fatal consequences. Also, despite having a higher stroke prevalence and representing half of the population, women currently account for less than 40 percent of clinical trials participants,” Dr Murphy said.

Tahnee Haynes had just given birth when she knew something was wrong. Unable to walk properly, struggling to use her phone and unable to recall simple words like ‘headache’, she raised her concerns with nurses and a doctor before being discharged. She was told it was likely poor leg circulation from days in bed. The next day, she had a stroke.

“I still kick myself every day for not insisting on getting scans sooner when I was in hospital after the birth, as perhaps the strokes could have been avoided. I live in fear that I’m going to experience another stroke episode, and there is nothing I can do to prevent it.”

Tahnee’s experience reflects a pattern seen across Australia, where women’s symptoms are frequently misread or dismissed.

The survey of 3,629 women revealed 70% of women know that their pain is more likely to be dismissed by healthcare professionals. It also found a significant generational divide, with women aged 18 to 24 far more likely to correctly understand the definitions of "sex" and "gender" than older women. Just 53% of women aged 65 and over correctly understood the term "sex" compared to 83% of younger women.

Australian women are encouraged to register their interest in medical research and help shape healthcare for future generations. Sign up through The George Institute’s ‘Join Us’ register: www.georgeinstitute.org/join-us.