Publication: It's All in Her Head: How the Gender Data Gap in Medicine Impacts Women's Health
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Type
Thesis
Degree
BA
Date
2025
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Published Version
Abstract
This thesis investigates the gender data gap in medicine and
how it impacts women’s health, arguing that systemic male
bias in medical research and practice leads to misdiagnosis,
inadequate treatment, and emotional distress among women.
The research is composed of qualitative desk research and a
thematic analysis of personal stories collected from Reddit,
which revealed key themes including dismissal, disbelief,
and misdiagnosis as well as recurring emotional responses
such as frustration, fear, and hopelessness. These personal
insights combined with the academic findings, reveal how the
gender data gap in medical research affects women’s clinical
experiences. The accompanying design project It’s All in Her
Head, is an animated infographic with its title reflecting the
tendency within the healthcare system to dismiss women’s
physical symptoms as psychological. The viewer follows the
protagonist through a series of unsettling encounters with
the healthcare system, each scenario reflecting real-world
scenarios based on the data obtained from the desk research
and collected personal stories. The project aims to raise
awareness about the severe consequences of the gender
data gap on women’s health. This thesis and project utilizes
design as a tool for criticizing the norm of men being the de-
fault and advocating for change through visual storytelling.