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If you’re curious about the specific types of gender bias women encounter in daily life that impact their mental health, you don’t have to look far.

We’ll start with the basics:

  • Pay disparities
  • Workplace discrimination.
  • Microaggressions
  • Sexual harassment.
  • Unrealistic standards for:
    • Appearance
    • Behavior
    • Performance

These are just a few of the myriad gender-based challenges women face on a regular basis in the United States and throughout the rest of the world.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) reports women are more likely than men to experience stressors such as poverty, intimate partner violence, and the responsibility of caring for another person.

Here are more basic facts about gender disparities in various areas of life in the U.S.:

  • In a typical year, fully employed women earn about 25% less than fully employed men.
  • Among adults 18-64:
    • 14.2% of women report income below the poverty line
    • 10.5% of men report income below the poverty line
  • Among seniors 65+:
    • Poverty rate among women:10.3%
    • Poverty rate among men: 7%
  • Around 33% of women in the U.S. reports experiencing sexual or physical assault and/or stalking by an intimate partner.
  • 65% of caregivers for children, family members, or close friends are women.
  • Women spend up to 50% more time on caregiving than men.

It’s not difficult to understand how these default conditions, which reveal deeply embedded gender bias – can have a profound negative impact on women’s mental health. What isn’t as readily apparent – but which several studies have documented – is that gender bias can also undermine access to care and the quality of services that many women receive when they seek treatment.

Gender Differences in Mental Health Diagnoses

Most mental health disorders have a variety of internal (genetic) and external (environmental) risk factors. This makes it difficult to quantify the risk posed by a single factor, such as gender. But many mental illnesses skew heavily toward women, which suggests gender may play an important role in the development and/or the diagnosis of these conditions.

This noticeable gender imbalance includes two of the most common mental illnesses throughout the world, anxiety and depression.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) report the following gender differences in the prevalence rates of mental illness between men and women.

Gender Bias in Women’s Mental Health: Gender Differences in Prevalence of Mental Illness

Over three times higher for women
Almost twice as high for women
Almost twice as high for women
Over twice as high for women
Three times higher for women
Five times higher for women

Studies also show that women are more likely to engage in self-harming behaviors, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts:

  • Self-harm, a.k.a. non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI):
    • Women:14.47%
    • Men: 7.78%
Almost twice as high for women
25 percent higher for women
38 percent higher for women

The elevated rate of suicide attempts among women often gets overlooked, because the majority of suicide deaths in the U.S. involve men. However, this isn’t because men attempt suicide more often. Most experts believe that the gender gap in annual suicide deaths is due in large part to men using firearms more frequently than women.

IMPORTANT NOTE: IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAS THOUGHTS OF SUICIDE, PLEASE GET HELP IMMEDIATELY.

In the United States:

These free resources are staffed 24/7 by trained counselors who can assess your needs and connect you with appropriate services in your area.

How Gender Bias Impacts Diagnosis and Treatment

Statistics like those above make it appear that women are more likely than men to develop many mental illnesses. While this may be the case, it’s also possible that widespread gender bias among diagnosticians led to inaccurate data.

To understand the impact gender bias may exert on mental healthcare, it helps to take a step back and look at the differences in how clinicians diagnose and treat some physical illnesses:

A January 2022 study about gender bias in healthcare showed the following.

Gender Bias in Diagnosis and Research

  • Although women account for more than half of the global population, female patients wait longer for both diagnoses and pain relief services than male patients.
  • Women are more likely than men to receive an incorrect medical diagnosis or be discharged during a serious medical event.
  • A review of 86 randomized controlled studies from nine journals found that 37% of the studies included girls and women – and only three studies noted this lack of gender diversity.

A review published in 2023 revealed the following,

Gender Bias in Health Care Settings

  • A nine-month study of an urban emergency department found that women were less likely than men to receive opioids or other pain medications, even though there was no significant difference in pain scores among the male and female patients.
  • Another study revealed that, when women and men report similar levels of pain, doctors are more likely to prescribe painkillers to male patients and refer female patients to psychotherapists.
  • Women are more likely to experience chronic pain, but most studies on this subject focus on male participants.
  • Most pain medication tests involve the “ideal male” with a weight of 70 kilos (154 lbs.) which means standard dosage recommendations may fail to account for gender differences

Using men to test most pain medications is consistent with the history of medical and mental health research in the United States. For example, when lawmakers signed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Revitalization Act in 1993, it marked the first time in the nation’s history that the NIH-funded health required researchers to include women in their studies.

Yes, you read that previous sentence correctly. Prior to 1993, researchers who received NIH funding were not obligated to collect data on girls or women, even though female citizens make up more than half of the U.S. population

Gender biases in the diagnoses and treatment of pain patients demonstrate how medical processes can negatively impact women’s health and mental healthcare in general:

  • If women with legitimate medical concerns are misdiagnosed with mental health disorders, this can prevent researchers from gaining an accurate understanding of gender differences in these disorders.
  • If women receive mental health services for medical conditions such as pain, they’re unlikely to have a positive treatment outcome. This can skew statistics on the effectiveness of certain interventions.
  • Improper diagnoses and inappropriate care can lead to extended and more severe distress among female patients.

In other words, the traditional gender bias in medicine clearly causes harm, which contradicts the spirit of the treatment philosophy first, do no harm.

When women with legitimate medical concerns experience inadequate mental health treatment, they may be hesitant or unwilling to seek professional care the next time they develop medical or mental health needs. This can cause them to experience more intense symptoms for longer periods of time than men with similar mental health issues.

Barriers to Gender-Inclusive Mental Health Treatment

Outdated mindsets and discrimination by professionals contribute to gender bias in mental healthcare, but they’re not only factors that perpetuate this problem.

Several structural and/or systemic barriers prevent women from receiving the quality care they deserve:

  • Finances: Mental health services can be expensive, and many women are either uninsured or unable to pay out-of-pocket costs of care.
  • Time: Caregiving responsibilities fall disproportionately on women, which limits their opportunities for scheduling appointments and attending treatment.
  • Representation: Though girls and women account for more than 50% of the U.S. population, only about 33% of practicing psychiatrists are women.
    • For women of color, finding a psychiatrist of the same gender and ethnicity can be even more difficult.
  • Stigma: Women (especially mothers) often face harsher criticism than men for acknowledging they have mental health issues, and for taking time away from their jobs and families to get the care they need.
  • Care gaps: Women are more likely to first discuss mental health concerns with their doctor, while men are more likely to speak with a mental health specialist. If their primary care physician doesn’t make an appropriate referral or discuss effective options, women may endure unnecessary delays in getting help.

How to Help a Loved One Get the Care She Needs

When someone in your life has a mental health issue, it can be difficult to decide how best to help. You can’t cure someone through love and support alone – and you can’t single-handedly dismantle the structural barriers that reinforce gender biases – but you can play a vital role in ensuring that she gets the care she deserves.

Here are a few tips:

Believe Her

  • Take her concerns seriously. If a healthcare provider dismisses or misdiagnoses her symptoms, encourage her to seek a second opinion.

Talk to Her

  • Let her know that she’s not alone, and that she has your continued support. Even when you know you’re right, having a doctor tell you that you’re wrong can have a profound negative impact on your mindset and confidence.

Listen to Her

  • Having a trusted friend or family member that she can talk to without fear of stigma or judgement can make a world of difference.

Educate Yourself

  • Learn about her symptoms. This can give you a better understanding of what she’s going through.

Provide Practical Support

  • If transportation or childcare concerns preventing her from getting help, offer to fulfill these responsibilities so she can focus on her health.

Help Research Options

  • Look for providers or centers that offer gender-inclusive or female-focused services that appear to align with your loved ones needs.

In southern California, Crownview Psychiatric Institute offers an array of customized services for women and men who have developed complex mental health concerns. Treatment at our center occurs in a safe and welcoming community-like environment where all patients receive the respect they deserve.

To learn more about how we can help you or someone that you care about, please visit our Contact page or call us today. We look forward to answering all your questions and helping you determine if CPI is the ideal place for you or your loved one.