Nurofen reveals extent of UK gender pain gap highlighting over half of women feel their pain is ignored or dismissed

Today, Nurofen has launched its inaugural Gender Pain Gap Index Report that reveals the true extent of the gender pain bias that women experience every day, where women are not taken seriously, often ignored, or deemed ’emotional’ when it comes to their pain.

These real-life experiences impact women’s everyday lives, such as having trouble sleeping6, and can have further longer-term consequences on their health and wellbeing.

The Gender Pain Gap Index Report was launched to quantify the suspected gender gap that exists when it comes to pain. This gap is influenced by several factors: from the historical lack of medical research into women’s specific pains7, the lack of mandatory training for healthcare professionals on women-specific conditions8, underlying gender biases in society9, and the recent broader gender health gap highlighted in the UK Government Women’s Health Strategy for England, published in July 2022.

To compile its report, Nurofen surveyed 5,100 UK women and men about their experience, treatment and awareness of pain, over half of women (56%) feel their pain is ignored or dismissed.7 The Gender Pain Gap Index also revealed that nearly a third of women asked (31%) said they didn’t want to waste their healthcare professionals’ time, and 27% said it was easier to self-diagnose due to wait times..10 The report also found that, out of those who felt their pain was ignored or dismissed, nearly one in four women versus one in six men said, generally, no one took their pain seriously.11

Additionally, nearly three-quarters (74%) of women regularly choose self-care over seeing a healthcare professional, compared to 60% of men. Women were also likely to have their everyday lives impacted, as four in 10 (41%) women reported their pain causes them trouble sleeping, compared to 31% of men. Almost a quarter (24%) of women surveyed reported that pain has led to them feeling depressed, compared to 18% of men.12

Nearly half (48%) of all adults surveyed believe there is a ‘gap’ in the identification and treatment of pain between genders.13 Of the people surveyed who think the Gender Pain Gap exists, 63% of women vs only 39% of men believe this is the case because women are not always taken as seriously because they’re viewed as ’emotional’.14

With the extent of the Gender Pain Gap revealed for the first time, Nurofen is today announcing its initial suite of commitments to help close the Gender Pain Gap and ultimately help drive real change for women and their pain, including:
Developing a variety of new tools that will assist both women and men in their description and articulation of their pains to healthcare professionals. These tools will be freely accessible to all via the Nurofen website and distributed to relevant community groups.
Nurofen is committed to gender balance in the design, conduct and analysis of our clinical research.
We commit to including, studying, and understanding women in our research.
We will always consider gender when interpreting our findings, publishing the results where appropriate to improve pain management and research. Gender representation in the last 30 years of Nurofen clinical research has been very encouraging, with 53% female and 47% male subjects being enrolled in 50 studies.
Nurofen will commission its Gender Pain Gap Index Report regularly to track progress on closing the gap over time.

In addition to the commitments made today, Nurofen will analyse further insights from consumers and healthcare professionals to produce detailed commitment roadmaps in areas where the Gender Pain Gap is most prominent.

Dr Elinor Cleghorn, feminist cultural historian and author of Unwell Women, who advised on the Gender Pain Gap Index Report, commented: “Gender bias in medical knowledge, research and practice is deeply ingrained. Today, we are facing up to the consequences of centuries-long discriminatory misbeliefs about women’s pain. The misunderstanding, minimization and misdiagnosis of women’s pain-causing health conditions is compounded by the pervasive influence of gender norms and stereotypes that are not only medical, but social and cultural. It is clear from Nurofen’s research that there is a gender gap when it comes to the experience of women’s pain. I am delighted to support Nurofen as we strive for change and take action to tackle this long-standing issue.”

Janet Lindsay, CEO at Wellbeing of Women, in support of Nurofen’s Gender Pain Gap Index Report, said: “Tragically, we hear time and time again of women being dismissed or not taken seriously when it comes to their pain. A lot of women feel they need to put up with their pain and that it is ‘normal’ – and this is completely unacceptable. The Nurofen Gender Pain Gap report highlights these issues. We must all work together to close the gender health gap and improve access to healthcare for women and girls.”

Angela Naef, Chief Research and Development Officer at Reckitt, said: “I am very proud to be introducing the very first Nurofen Gender Pain Gap Index Report and to be taking decisive steps to help close the gap once and for all. We are committed to delivering real changes that will, ultimately, improve women’s experience and treatment of pain, and welcome other organisations to join us in our mission.”

By raising awareness of this gender pain gap and amplifying women’s voices, Nurofen hopes more women will speak to their healthcare professional about pain management and healthcare professionals will take steps to address and make progress against addressing gender biases and, ultimately, help to close the gender pain gap.