Welcome to Part II of our two-part series looking at DEI and its intersection to women and women’s healthcare. In this post, we focus on the current landscape in women’s healthcare. It also focused on how we can take care of ourselves, and each other, the best we can.
In Part I, we discuss a short history surrounding the exclusion of women from clinical trials in the U.S. In 1993, the National Institutes of Health for the first time established guidelines including women and minorities in the processes of clinical research. Until that point, data used to form health care diagnoses and treatments were derived from men’s bodies and their experiences. We also offer a definition of DEI, standing for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. DEI is both a concept—a recognition that humankind is inherently diverse and, as a society, we benefit from being open and integrated with our range of human experience. It is a practice, in terms of policies set institutionally, across sectors, to protect and support this recognition.
What Is Changing?
The term, DEI, short for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, refers to a framework—a way of thinking, doing, and being that supports initiatives, which prioritize a respect for our human reality. As humans, we inhabit a range of backgrounds, experiences, and cultures, based on our individual and collective histories and presents. When we look at how our unique experiences become part of society’s consciousness, recognizing everyone’s experiences is critical. In other words: to be a functioning whole, we have to be super aware, and respectful of each other’s (many) parts. The DEI concept itself came out of the many social movements of the 1950s and 1960s in the United States. This put a spotlight on the unfair treatment of minoritized people.
All DEI and DEIA (Accessibility) programs in the current presidential administration that operate within the federal government are being cut. The federal government says it will withhold federal funds from the education sector—schools and universities—if they do not eliminate their DEI programs. Though this federal mandate does not technically extend to the private sector, some private sector employers offer insight into how these policy cuts at the federal level affect the atmosphere of continuing their existing, company-run DEI programs.
State Orders
Two additional executive orders state that biological sex is preferred over gender identity, and remove gender and sexual orientation from the official definition of discrimination types. The healthcare sector, at its idealist core, wants to help everyone, equally. Policy set at the federal level supporting attitudes that disregard range in biological sex (for example, intersex) and in gender identity sets a macro precedent for narrowing a definition of individual existence. And that likewise, when discriminated against for gender identity and sexual orientation, these individuals do not deserve protection.
The National Women’s Law Center believes the executive orders relating to DEI will make contractors and federal workers vulnerable to harassment based on gender, race, and other elements of their identities. As the American Association of Medical Colleges points out, these orders will also impact academic medical centers that receive federal funds. On January 20, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services asked agency leaders to take a short break in their public meetings and external communications—which included study sections at the National Institutes of Health.
It’s easy to see that these DEI policies will impact more than just attitudes toward sex and gender; they will also shape regulations regarding the types of research permitted and the individuals involved.
Resources
One of the questions we get from our customers and readers is, how do these (or other) federal policies affect me, in my everyday life and emergencies? As a gender non-conforming or non-binary individual, will I or they face limitations in accessing healthcare? These are excellent questions, and FemmePharma is here for you and those you care about.
Starting with a general knowledge base about healthcare needs specific to women’s bodies keeps us informed and current with new research, terms, services, and treatments. The American Academy of Family Physicians and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office of Women’s Health are excellent resources. Local doctors’ offices may offer specific information about their provisions of care, accounting for the DEI policy changes at the federal level, as they relate to patient care. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is another chock-full source, answering questions about the range of issues affecting women. The more we know, the better chance we have of making better healthcare decisions for ourselves and supporting others in theirs. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration Office of Women’s Health, though in reorganization, at present includes helpful articles on a diversity of topics impacting women’s health, including menopause, cervical cancer, and achieving an overall healthy lifestyle.
Women, Let’s Take Care of Each Other (Like We Always Have)
As a women-founded & -staffed company, we believe in the power of a woman’s voice—and in the combined power when we gather and share, helping each other become more informed. Communities, such as the present-day Wonder Woman Collective, focusing on women-specific research, and storied Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, formed in 1969, are examples of organizations founded by women to collate information on women’s health and and refocus the conversation on health to include women’s, not only men’s, health concerns. These women have been changing the game in women’s health and femtech—check them out, too.
Routine check-ups are critical for protecting our health journeys, in terms of how we live in and treat our bodies, and what kind of support we need to be well. We encourage you to be an advocate for you! Reach out to your doctors’ offices and ask questions about your healthcare. Ask your friends about their medical networks, too; share knowledge. The personal always finds its way into the public. Taking care of yourself can be a radical act—and can domino into others taking care of themselves, and others, and others.