The Healthcare Gap
Medicine has traditionally been based on the male body, with women as bycatch, but women are not just smaller men. In scientific research, female patients remain alarmingly underrepresented, and today there is still no equality between men and women as patients, despite growing proof of the differences. And female medical professionals themselves still need further emancipation in their roles.
Cardiologist Angela Maas and journalist Els Quaegebeur examine this health gap: Where are the systemic flaws in women’s healthcare? What are the misconceptions and prejudices and why are many essential differences neglected? How can we make the current healthcare culture more female-friendly as a matter of urgency?
Angela Maas (b. 1956), a pioneer in women’s heart health, has been a cardiologist since 1988. She is Professor of Female Cardiology at Radboud Medical Centre in Nijmegen.