"As a woman, I have no country. As a woman, my country is the whole world."
—Virginia Woolf

Women In Pain Resources

Articles, Reports and Other Resources

Nurofen
Gender Pain Gap Index Report: Year Two
January 2024

Healthy Women
Women with Chronic Pain Articles and Resources
April 2021

Healthy Women
2019 Summit Final Report: “Women In Chronic Pain – Focus on Treatment, Management and Barriers”
April 2020

University of Michigan
“The Role of Early Life Trauma in Chronic Pain Patients”
July 2019

International Association for the Study of Pain
Global Year Against Pain in Women: “Real Women, Real Pain” Campaign
October 2007

Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics
The Girl Who Cried Pain: A Bias Against Women in the Treatment of Pain
By Diane E. Hoffmann and Anita J. Tarzian
June 2001

Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics
The Woman Who Cried Pain: Do Sex-Based Disparities Still Exist in the Experience and Treatment of Pain?
By Diane  E. Hoffmann, Dr. Roger Fillingim, and Christin Veasley
November 2022

National Pain Report
“Women In Pain Report Significant  Bias”
September 2014

National Pain Report
“Women In Pain Survey Results”
September 2014

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Medical Xpress
“Research Suggests Chronic Pain is Different for Males and Females”
January 2024

SWLondoner
“Gender Pain Gap: Women More Likely to be Medically Gaslit”
January 2024

Pain News Network
“Childhood Trauma Raises Risk of Chronic Pain in Adults by 45%”
December 2023

Pain News Network
“Why Women Are More Likely to Suffer Migraines”
February 2023

The Washington Post
“From Heart Disease to IUDs:  How Doctor’s Dismiss Women’s Pain”
December 2022

The Mirror UK
“Quarter of Women Feel Their Pain Isn’t Taken Seriously”
November 2022

MDLinx.com
“How Hysteria Casts a Long Shadow on Women’s Healthcare That Still Resonates”
October 2022

TED.com
“Dr. Sheetal DeCarla: The Bias Behind Your Undiagnosed Chronic Pain”
September 2022

Codelist.biz
“Invisible Women In Medicine: How Gender Biases Are Affecting Our Health”
August 2022

Pain Reports
“Impact of Demographic Factors on Chronic Pain Among Adults in the United States”
August 2022

New York Times
“Feeling Dismissed?  How to Spot Medical Gaslighting and What to Do About It”
July 2022

MedicalNewsToday.com
“Why Some Painkillers Are Less Effective With Women”
May 2022

GoodHousekeeping.com
“The Gender Pain Map: Why Women’s Pain Isn’t Taken As Seriously”
May 2022

Zmescience.com
“Men and Women Feel Pain Differently – and This Study May Finally Explain Why”
April 2022

WebMD.com
“Even Women Doctors Find Their Symptoms Aren’t Taken Seriously”
April 2022

HealthCentral.com
“Women and Pain: A Special Report”
April 2022

Ottawa Citizen
“Finding of Sex-Related Differences in Pain Signaling Could Lead to Better Treatment”
April 2022

NewsGram
“Study Suggests Men and Women Process Pain Signals Differently”
March 2022

New Scientist
“Map of Pain Neurons May Lead to More Effective Drugs for Chronic Pain”
February 2022

Calgary Journal
“Why Medical Professionals Don’t Always Take Women’s Pain Seriously”
December 2021

HistroyExtra.com
“The Gender Pain Gap: Perceptions of Women’s Health Through History”
August 2021

Georgetown University School of Nursing
“Addressing Implicit Bias  in Women’s Health”
August 2021

Insider.com
“Women’s Chronic Pain is Often Dismissed as Being ‘Dramatic’ – Which Can Ruin Health and Lives”
July 2021

The Guardian
“Why Women Are More Likely to Suffer From Long COVID”
June 2021

The Guardian
“Sufferers of Chronic Pain Have Long Been Told It’s All in Their Head”
June 2021

The Pharmaceutical Journal
“Sex Differences in Chronic Pain Linked to Genetics”
June 2021

Time.com
“Medical Myths About Gender Roles Go Back to Ancient Greece”
June 2021

Eminetra.com
“Medical Failure With Painful Women”
June 2021

DailyNews.uk
“Women’s Pain Is Not Taken as Seriously as Men’s”
April 2021

Cosmosmagazine.com
“Chronic Pain in Women Could Be Genetic”
April 2021

MsMagazine.com
“Gender Bias in Health Care Is Playing a Dangerous Role in COVID-19 Care”
October 2020

PubMed.Gov
An Evaluation of Sex Differences in Patients with Chronic Pain Undergoing an Interdisciplinary Pain Treatment Program
August 2020

The McGill Tribune
“Sex Bias in Pain Research Leads to Failed Studies, Inequity in Pain Management”
July 2020

Pain News Network
“Sex Bias Persists in Pain Research”
May 2020

Medical News Today
“Brain Differences Between Men and Women Affect Response to Pain Relief”
December 2019

HealthyWomen.org
“Why Men and Women Feel Pain Differently”
November 2019

HealthyWomen.org
“New Toolkit Aims to Educate Women About Prescription Opioids”
August 2019

NPR.org
“Women May Be More Adept at Discerning Pain Than Men”
August 2019

LeapsMag.com
“Women and Men Experience Pain Differently. Learning Why Could Lead to Better Drugs.”
August 2019

Washington Post
“Is Bias Keeping Women, Minorities Patients from Getting Proper Care for Their Pain?”
July 2019

Vice.com
“‘I Lost Everything’: The Obscene Cost of Being a Woman with a Chronic Health Problem”
July 2019

Los Angeles Times
“Researchers Avoid ‘Messy” Hormonal Female Mice. And That Hurts Women”
June 2019

Psychology Today
“The Scientific Relationship Between Menopause and Pain”
May 2019

Consumer Reports
“‘All in Your Head?’ Getting Care for Untreated Pain”
April 2019

Nature
“Why the Sexes Don’t Feel Pain the Same Way”
March 2019

Wired.com
“Women’s Pain Is Different From Men’s – the Drugs Could Be Too”
March 2019

New York Times
“Why Are We Still Dismissing Girls’ Pain?”
February 2019

Rewire.News
“Chronic Pain Is Overwhelmingly Experienced by Women—So Why Do They Have Trouble Getting Care for It?”
March 2018

WNYC.org
“How the Medical Community Undermines Female Pain”
March 2018

Daily Mail UK
“Doctors Fail to Take Women Suffering Pain as Seriously as Men”
February 2018

Harvard Health Publishing
“Women and Pain: Disparities in Experience and Treatment”
October 2017

PainNewsNetwork.com
“Women Catastrophize About Pain More Than Men”
June 2017

HealthCentral.com
“Do Women Experience Chronic Pain Differently?”
May 2017

PainNewsNetwork.com
“Why Women Feel Chronic Pain More Than Men”
March 2017

The Conversation
“Genders Experience Pain Differently, and Women Have It More” 
December 2015

MotherNatureNetwork.com
Why Do Doctors Take Women’s Pain Less Seriously?
October 2015

Migraine.com
Men and Women Experience Migraine Differently
July 2015

MedicalNewsToday.com
Gender Difference in Pain Transmission, Reports New Study
June 2015

Newswire.com
Research Finds Males and Females Process Chronic Pain Differently
June 2015

RhRealityCheck.com
Chronic Pain Is Overwhelmingly Experienced by Women; So Why Do They Have Trouble Getting Care for It?
February 2015

National Pain Report
Women In Pain Survey Results
September 2014

National Pain Report
National Pain Report Readers’ Survey of Women in Pain Attracts Robust Response
September 2014

National Pain Report
Your Pain is Your Fault: What Women Are Told by Their Doctors
September 2014

National Pain Report
Childhood Trauma and Adult Pain: Is There a Connection?”
September 2014

Health.com
How Women’s Pain Differs from Men’s
August 2014

The Boston Globe
I Don’t Feel Your Pain
June 2014

The Wall Street Journal
“Escape from the Chronic Pain Trap”
February 2014

iVillage.com
Women and Pain: 10 Ways It Really Is Different
April 2013

SpinalStenosis.org
Men vs. Women on Pain: Do Women Really Suffer More?”
December 2012

The Lund Report
Medical and Psychological Risks and Consequences of Long-Term Opioid Therapy in Women
August 2012

The Journal of Pain
“Women report feeling pain more intensely than men, says study of electronic records”
January 2012

Scientific American
“Women Feel Pain More Intensely Than Men Do”
January 2012

Medical News Today
Dissimilar Interaction Of Opioid Receptors May Explain Why Men And Women Experience Pain Differently
August 2011

WebMD.com
Women’s Chronic Pain More Intense
August 2010

Paintopics.org
“John Henryism” & Pain-Relief Deficits in Women”
August 2010

Newswise.com
“Men and Women Differ in Pain Drug Abuse Risks”
April 2010

Docstoc.com
“Women and Pain: An Overview”
February 2010

BMC Medicine
“Sex differences in rheumatoid arthritis: More than meets the eye”
March 2009

Reuters
“More U.S. women getting rheumatoid arthritis: study”
October 2008

The Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
“Sex bias seen in control of cancer pain”
August 2008

“Women, Men and Ouch! the Painful Truth”
O, The Oprah Magazine, April 2008

“Gender Bias May Affect Care of People with Osteoarthritis”
University of Toronto, March 2008

“The best new pain cures, with a focus on women”
CNN.com, June 2007

“Not Feeling Each Other’s Pain”
Washington Post, December 2006

Extra Nerve Fibers May Heighten Female Pain Perception
MedPage Today, October 2005

Pain May Be in the Brain, But It’s Still Real
ABC News, May 2005

Painkillers Designed Especially For You?
ABC News, May 2005

Black women with chronic pain suffer more physical and psychological distress
University of Michigan Health System, October 2005

Hurting More, Helped Less?
New York Times, June 23, 2002