Women around the world are living longer than men, but they are not living better, according to a UN News drawing on data from UN Women and the World Health Organization (WHO). Women spend an average of 10.9 years in poor health — nearly three years more than men — battling chronic conditions that are routinely dismissed, misdiagnosed, or left untreated. From outdated diagnostic tools to decades of gender-blind medical research, the gaps embedded in global healthcare systems are costing women their quality of life.
Progress over the past 25 years is real but uneven. Maternal mortality dropped 40% between 2000 and 2023, skilled birth attendance rose from 61% to nearly 87%, and adolescent fertility rates fell significantly in most regions. Yet in the least developed countries, adolescent births actually increased — from 4.7 million in 2000 to 5.6 million in 2024. UN Women describes the current healthcare system as one “historically designed without women in mind,” where the tools, data, and clinical assumptions used to diagnose and treat patients were built largely around male biology.
The consequences are concrete and well-documented. Endometriosis affects roughly 190 million women globally, yet diagnosis still takes between four and 12 years on average. Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women, but because its warning signs in women — fatigue, nausea, jaw or back pain — differ from the male-pattern symptoms doctors are trained to recognize, women are sometimes sent home rather than treated. Until 1993, women were largely excluded from clinical trials, meaning many drugs and treatments still in use were never properly tested on female biology. Women today remain more likely to experience adverse drug reactions as a result.
Closing these gaps will require more than awareness. Experts call for inclusive research that integrates sex and gender into clinical studies, better diagnostic tools designed with women’s comfort and safety in mind, and stronger representation of women in healthcare leadership — where evidence shows their inclusion improves patient outcomes and reduces mortality. Several countries, including Spain, have introduced paid menstrual leave, and momentum for policy reform is building. But without structural change to how medicine funds, researches, and treats women’s health, longer lives will continue to mean more years spent in pain.
