I can’t help but think of the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, where Jane, the main character, is seemingly plagued with postpartum depression. Locked indefinitely in a room under the guise of treatment, Jane’s mental health devolves as a consequence of being misunderstood and having her needs belittled by those around her — especially by her husband, who was also her physician. But unlike Jane’s world, where medical care was bound by marital and social expectations, we have the opportunity to ask more of our physicians, to demand partnership rather than paternalism. This isn’t just about one woman, one illness; it’s about a fundamental shift in how we, as a society, approach women’s health.
Luckily, the tides seem to be slowly changing. Just last November, the first-ever White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research was launched, aiming to “unleash transformative investment to close research gaps, and improve women’s health.” The initiative could provide new pathways for progress, but only if we choose to walk through the doors it has opened. This doesn’t have to be some far-off White House agenda — I believe young women researchers should step up to seize opportunities like this and drive meaningful change. And as we chart the course of future work, I hope men join the conversation too.
Another example of progress is the 2021 removal of systemic biases once embedded in the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network’s vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) calculator, demonstrating the power of advocacy in healthcare. The network’s VBAC calculator, a medical algorithm designed to predict the likelihood of having a successful vaginal birth after a prior cesarean delivery, originally offered a lower probability for Hispanic and African American women. That led to concerns the calculator could encourage giving patients of color fewer opportunities for vaginal births and instead providing more unnecessary C-sections, which, like any surgery, comes with risks. Researchers and doctors started to question this disparity and demanded change, ultimately leading to the algorithm being redesigned without race- and ethnicity-based factors in 2021. As a result, pregnant people of all backgrounds are now being served better, with medical decisions that reflect a more accurate understanding of their health needs.
When I gave a talk on disparities in women’s health at the Rise summit, it felt like we were all stepping into a shared space of vulnerability. I saw nods of recognition ripple through the audience, particularly among the girls. Boys, too — some of whom had never heard of conditions like endometriosis — lingered after the talk, their questions hesitant at first, then bolder as they realized I was more than willing to discuss what they didn’t know. It struck me how foreign this topic was to the boys I spoke to, how far removed it was from their experiences, yet here they were, wanting to understand.
