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Recognizing Equal Research Day
Female bodies were not required to be in U.S. clinical research until June 10, 1993.
Are you surprised?
I’m not. But that doesn’t make it any less shocking.
We originally started Diem as a place to join and discover women’s health conversations, inspired by my own experiences struggling to find answers in healthcare, especially online. We’ve since evolved Diem to offer improved access to other “taboo” topics, but women’s health conversations remain a huge topic in our community. That’s why I want to raise awareness around Equal Research Day on June 10th.
Last year, our friends over at Evvy, the vaginal microbiome company, launched Equal Research Day to commemorate the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, which required the inclusion of women in U.S. clinical research for the first time. I’d also like to note that while Equal Research Day uses the term “women” for historical accuracy, an intersectional approach to sex and gender was not taken in the development and application of this law.
It’s been 30 years since the NIH Revitalization Act law passed, but we’re still decades behind. There’s still a lack of inclusivity in trials, which helps explain why so many people with female anatomy have pretty terrible experiences accessing adequate healthcare. Caroline Criado Perez, the author of my favorite book Invisible Women, does the best job articulating—through data—why a ‘default male’ society has so many issues in the realm of healthcare. For example, did you know that the average dose of over-the-counter medicine (like Ibuprofen) is based on the male anatomy? Did you know that women are diagnosed four years later than men across 700 diseases? Did you know that 4% of healthcare R&D goes toward women’s health? If you’re curious about all the other ways our ‘default male’ society maintains and widens the gender data gap, you absolutely must read Caroline’s book.
To this day, women are more likely to die from heart attacks, react poorly to prescription drugs, and have their pain and symptoms dismissed by doctors. So how can we change this?
The intent of Equal Research Day is to shine a light on all groups who have been underrepresented in clinical research—trans and non-binary people, people of color, people with disabilities, older adults, folks who are pregnant, etc. To do so, here are some easy, tangible things you can do:
For every social post in June that tags @evvy and #EqualResearchDay, Evvy will donate $1 to Women’s Health Access Matters (@whamnow)
Read more about why this all matters here.
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See you next week,
Emma
Thank you. I hate to think about the truth of women's health care, and this is why. It's a good day to think about it and hone my skills for self-advocacy.