On Tuesday, the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality adopted a draft report outlining its position on gender inequalities in health, with 27 votes in favour, 9 against and no abstentions. The text highlights that gender inequalities in health are structural, multifaceted and rooted in decades of medical research designed around the male anatomy, affecting the whole cycle of care for women, from clinical trials to diagnosis, treatment, and access to healthcare The MEPs also stress the impact of intersecting forms of discrimination, particularly on women in vulnerable situations

Mandatory sex and gender sensitive research design throughout the full research cycle is needed, according to MEPs, including greater efforts to include pregnant and breastfeeding women in clinical trials, as well as sex and gender disaggregated data in all EU funded projects. They also call for the European Health Data Space (EHDS) to include a strong gender perspective and warn that artificial…