Biases in Academia and Consequences for Women’s Health
With the aim of raising awareness about gender and sex biases in the health sector, the conference “Kvinders Sundhed – blinde vinkler og bias”, held in the Danish Parliament, addressed specific cases as well as a broad view on how imbalances in academia affects women’s health.
The same disease may affect men and women differently, and the same treatment men receive may be less effective or involve additional side effects for women, e.g. because of hormonal differences. Despite improvements in policies for gender disaggregation in clinical research, and greater inclusion of women patients, there are still large knowledge gaps specific for the diseases that afflict women alone or disproportionally.
In an effort to raise awareness and start a political debate, Molecule Consultancy had invited researchers and politicians to a conference on what these biases look like in Denmark. The conference was held on June 12, 2024, at Christiansborg, hosted by Monika Rubin (MP, Moderaterne) and Kristine Kryger (Regional Council, Capital Region, Radikale Venstre). From CFA, senior researcher Jens Peter Andersen participated as keynote speaker, addressing gender imbalances in the Danish academic system, with particular focus on careers and funding disparities. His data showed a glass ceiling for women in academia, but also that differences in external funding led to lower-than-expected research funding rates for those diseases, which affect women disproportionally more.
The entire conference was recorded, and is available here (Danish audio):
The program is available here: