More than half of women have felt ignored (Image: Getty)
Nearly three quarters of women are turning to the internet, friends and family, social media and AI as an alternative for health advice, after having their pain dismissed by their doctors. A study of 5,000 British adults found 53% of women felt their pain had been ignored or dismissed with this figure rising to 73% of Gen Z.
After being dismissed, 74% sought support elsewhere. This included turning to AI, with 21% admitting they have used tools such as ChatGPT for health information, despite a recent British Medical Journal report warning that much of the advice provided by popular chatbots can be inaccurate or incomplete.
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According to data published in the fourth edition of Nureofen’s Gender pain Gap Index Report one in six women (17%) reported waiting more than a year for a diagnosis, compared to just one in 10 men (10%). This may be the reason many are more likely to turn to these sources.
Charlotte Baker, 28, from Newcastle, spent nearly two decades having her pain dismissed by healthcare professionals. “It took emergency surgery and a stage 4 endometriosis diagnosis for anyone to finally listen,” she said.
Charlotte started using Pain Pass, a free tool which gives women a way to track and describe their symptoms, helping to support more productive conversations with their doctor.
The verified tool which has been downloaded and distributed more than 100,000 times was co-created by healthcare professionals and women living with pain.
Charlotte said: “I’ve spent nearly 20 years being told my pain isn’t real – that it’s in my head, that it’s just a period and that I just had a low pain tolerance.
“Using Nurofen’s Pain Pass helped me put into words what I’d been struggling to describe. I took it to my next appointment and for the first time, I felt like my GP actually understood what I was going through. It completely changed the conversation.”
“My message to any woman going through this is: believe in yourself, you know your body, and you know yourself.”
Women like Charlotte have been ignored for years (Image: Getty)
Dismissal is not limited to clinical settings, with all respondents also feeling dismissed by family members (28%) and partners (25%).
The report highlights that women are twice as likely as men to believe the gender pain gap exists because they are expected to naturally suffer pain (60% vs 30%). And six in 10 respondents identified gender discrimination as a contributing factor to the gap, up from 50% in 2024.
Penny East, CEO of the Fawcett Society, a charity campaigning for gender equality and women’s rights, said: “We’re seeing a systemic problem at play. Having our pain minimised affects our wellbeing, our worth and our health outcomes.
“The government’s renewed Women’s Health Strategy is a welcome step, but policy must be met with action and wider societal change: we need everyone from the NHS to brands to employers to confront this issue and make improvements in the way women are supported.
“We need much more innovation and education throughout the health system; women are living with the daily consequences of not being heard.”
This year, Nurofen expanded its commitment to community-based support by making Pain Pass available to more women across the UK, and training 10,000 Boots pharmacists to better recognise and address gender pain dismissal.
This approach supports the NHS 10-Year Plan’s emphasis on care in the community, meeting women where they are at a time when unregulated health information is more prevalent than ever.
Dr Bill Laughey, senior medical scientist at Reckitt, the company behind health, hygiene and nutrition products, added: “A productive conversation between a patient and their doctor can be the single most important step on the path to diagnosis.
“If, for whatever reason, the communication breaks down, women face delays in getting the answers they need.
“By training 10,000 pharmacists and putting Nurofen’s Pain Pass into more women’s hands, we’re investing in those conversations, making sure they happen earlier, in the right places, and lead to the better outcomes women deserve.”
