Women's Health Is Not a Niche — So Why Is It Still Treated Like One?

Women's Health & Advocacy
Written By Totally Fine Co

Women make up approximately half of the global population. Conditions that affect predominantly or exclusively women — endometriosis, PMOS/PCOS, adenomyosis, perimenopause, uterine fibroids — affect hundreds of millions of women collectively.

So why are they so consistently underfunded, underresearched, and undertreated?

This is not a conspiracy theory. It is a well-documented feature of the healthcare landscape and it has real, measurable consequences for real women's lives.

The research gap

For decades, the majority of clinical trials (medical studies testing treatments) used male participants as their default. Women were explicitly excluded from clinical research for large parts of the 20th century. The ideas was to "protect" them and thier reproductive function from potential harm. The effect was the creation an enormous knowledge gap. Drugs, dosages, and treatment protocols were developed based on male physiology (body systems) and then applied to women without the evidence base to support doing so.

The consequences of this systemic knowledge gap are still being felt today: pain medications that may work differently in women, cardiovascular disease that can present differently and is therefore still too often missed in emergency settings, and persistent gaps in understanding how female biology influences symptoms, diagnosis, treatment response, and long-term health outcomes.

The conditions that fall through the gaps

Endometriosis affects an estimated 10% of women globally ( approximately 190 million people). Yet it took until 2024 for a major university-led scoping review (a broad overview of existing research) to map the extent of diagnostic delay worldwide (University of York, 2024).

PMOS (formerly known as PCOS) is estimated to affect around one in eight women. It was renamed only in 2026, decades after the condition was first described. The original name inaccurately centred ovarian “cysts,” contributing to widespread misunderstanding, missed diagnoses and fragmented care (Teede et al., 2026).

Adenomyosis remains similarly overlooked. Although it can cause severe menstrual bleeding, debilitating pelvic pain and significant disruption to daily life, many people spend years seeking an explanation for their symptoms. A large 2026 French patient-cohort study found an average diagnostic delay of 11 years, evidence of how readily symptoms can be normalised, misattributed or treated in isolation rather than investigated as signs of an underlying condition.

Perimenopause is so poorly understood that researchers have described it as a “hidden phenomenon.” In one study of 947 perimenopausal women, more than 90% had never been taught about menopause at school, more than 60% felt completely uninformed, and most did not begin looking for information until their symptoms had already started. Women described reaching this stage of life shocked and unprepared, while also encountering healthcare professionals who lacked the knowledge or confidence to recognise and manage their symptoms appropriately (Harper et al., 2022).

These are not rare edge cases. These are majority experiences.

What this means in practice

For women living with undiagnosed or inadequately managed conditions, the consequences stretch far beyond individual discomfort:

  • Lost productivity (inability to work at full capacity) due to unmanaged pain and fatigue

  • Mental health impact from years of experiencing unexplained symptoms

  • Delayed treatment meaning conditions worsen. Especially ones that could have been managed earlier

  • Financial burden from years of pursuing private care when the public healthcare systems don't deliver answers

  • Loss of fertility in conditions where early treatment might have preserved it

Why we started Totally Fine Co.

We built Totally Fine Co. because we experienced this gap personally and because we know that the women around us did too. We are not clinicians, and we don't pretend to be. But we understand that when your health story is fragmented (scattered across appointments, portals, memory, and years of being dismissed), important patterns are missed.

Our tools are designed to help you bring structure to what you already know, so that when you do finally sit in front of someone who is willing to listen, you are ready.

The system is not yet what it needs to be. But you don't have to navigate it alone, and you don't have to start from the beginning every time. Reach out to us!

References:

This post is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice or diagnosis. If you are concerned about your symptoms, please speak with a qualified healthcare provider.

Totally Fine Co
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