By: Charlotte Plaskwa
The secret to unlocking an extra $1 trillion in global GDP might lie not in trade agreements or tech booms, but in something much closer to home: improving women’s health. According to a ground-breaking report from the World Economic Forum and the McKinsey Health Institute, closing the gender health gap could inject at least $1 trillion annually into the global economy by 2040. For every dollar invested in women’s health, the return could be threefold, offering not just a moral imperative but a financial one. Healthier women mean a healthier workforce, and when half the world’s population is more capable of contributing, the ripple effects are felt everywhere.
This isn’t just about adding more workers. The real power lies in boosting productivity and unlocking new levels of creativity and innovation. For too long, women have contended with systemic health barriers, leading to misdiagnoses, delayed treatments, and under-researched conditions that ripple through their professional lives. Women face delayed diagnoses for major illnesses; up to 2.5 years later for cancer and 4.5 years later for metabolic diseases like diabetes, according to a Danish study. Even for common conditions like heart disease, long labelled a “man’s disease,” women often receive misdiagnoses due to male-centric clinical research. Similarly, pharmaceuticals are typically tested on male subjects, leading to dosage recommendations that may not be optimal for women. In 2015, studies on erectile dysfunction, affecting 19% of men, outnumbered those on premenstrual syndrome, which impacts 90% of women, by five to one.
In 2001, University of Maryland academics Diane Hoffman and Anita Tarzian published The Girl Who Cried Pain, an analysis of the ways gender bias plays out in clinical pain management. The results revealed that male patients were administered pain medication significantly more frequently than female patients. Dementia care is another area where women draw the short straw. In 2016, researchers at University College London found that women with dementia receive worse medical treatment than men with the condition. Namely, they make fewer visits to the GP, receive less health monitoring and take more potentially harmful medication than men. Alarmingly, research has also shown that women are 14% less likely to receive CPR from a bystander when undergoing cardiac arrest in public than men.
The result? Women experience poor health for 25% longer than men, with much of that time falling within their prime working years. The disparities revealed by these statistics are not merely clinical; they echo through the corridors of power and policy–making, suggesting a deeply ingrained institutional bias. However, the primary focus of this article is not just to highlight how these systemic blind spots are discriminatory, they’re also economically inefficient. The lost years of productivity are an untapped resource, one that could drive global economic growth if only the gender health gap were addressed.
Investing in women’s health could be one of the most effective ways to boost our economy. Healthier women are more likely to pursue higher education, advance in their careers, and innovate within their industries. Governments and organisations are beginning to catch on, with initiatives like The Global Alliance for Women’s Health, garnering the commitment of at least 42 organisations pledging $55 million to enhance investment in women’s health, and policies pushing for gender parity in clinical research.
In short, the key to unlocking a trillion-dollar boost in global GDP could very well lie in ensuring that half the population gets the healthcare they need. Women’s health is not just a social issue; it’s the future of global economic growth.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and may not reflect the opinions of The St Andrews Economist.
Image via Fast Company