The FEMM Committee submits a draft resolution on gender-specific inequalities in healthcare.

The Irish MEP Billy Kelleher (Renew Europe) has presented an initial draft for an own-initiative report of the European Parliament in the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM Committee). In the report, he draws attention to gender-specific inequalities in healthcare and calls for policy action at EU level. The report identifies shortcomings across the entire care pathway — from research and clinical trials to diagnostics, treatment and financing. This is rooted in the long-standing focus on the male body. As a result, gender-specific differences affecting women’s health have often not yet been sufficiently researched (“gender health gap”).

Inequality begins with research gaps

The report highlights that systemic imbalances already begin at an early stage of medical research. Preclinical research still predominantly relies on male animals, meaning that sex-specific differences are insufficiently taken into account from the outset. This data gap is further exacerbated by the continued underfunding of research into sex-specific conditions: in 2020, only around 5 per cent of global research and development funding was allocated to women’s health research. While the European Union has introduced provisions aimed at greater inclusivity through Regulation (EU) No 536/2014 on clinical trials, women remain significantly underrepresented in clinical studies in practice. The European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) planned guideline on the inclusion of pregnant and breastfeeding individuals in clinical trials is regarded as an important step. At the same time, there are calls to expand this approach and to take further measures to correct structural biases already before the start of clinical trials and to better include other underrepresented groups.

Increasing the focus on sex-specific conditions

The report makes clear that the gender health gap is particularly pronounced in the area of female-specific conditions. For example, endometriosis is estimated to affect between 10 and 15 per cent of women of reproductive age, yet over the past 40 years only 10 out of approximately 146,000 EU-funded research projects have addressed this condition. A similarly sobering picture emerges with regard to access to healthcare during menopause, where those affected are confronted with limited specialist services and inconsistent clinical guidelines. However, the female perspective is also often insufficiently taken into account in the diagnosis of common diseases. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death among women in the EU, yet their symptoms often differ from those observed in men. As a result, the risk of misdiagnosis of heart failure in women is approximately twice as high. Against this backdrop, the report explicitly calls for a stronger integration of gender-sensitive healthcare into medical education and continuing professional training programmes.

Expand prevention and financing

The draft calls on the Commission to fully make use of its public health competences in order to strengthen universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights and to enshrine them in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It also advocates a voluntary, solidarity-based EU funding mechanism to facilitate access to abortion care for individuals who lack such access in their country of origin. The forthcoming Gender Equality Strategy 2026–2030 should further be used in a targeted manner to propose concrete measures that prioritise investment in sex-specific conditions. Finally, EU funding should play a central role in closing existing research gaps, strengthening prevention and reducing inequalities in access to healthcare. Not least, the promotion of gender-sensitive health research is also seen as an opportunity for innovation and competitiveness within the EU. In this way, the draft underscores the ambition to anchor gender equality in healthcare structurally and sustainably at EU level.