From period pain to heart attack… women’s pain is either an illusion or an excuse, read what this London report says – medical misogyny or gender gap in medical science why women pain often ignored by experts mdj

This discussion is somewhat inappropriate amid the death of Atul Subhash of Bengaluru, but since the report has come now, the discussion should also be held now. What happened was that recently the Women and Equality Committee in the Parliament of London made a revelation, according to which the doctors themselves are dismissing the pain of women considering it as minor. Especially if someone leaves due to period pain, she is sent back after counseling. This situation is the same from London to New York, and from Delhi to Khartoum.

In formal language it is called pain gap or medical misogyny.

The interesting thing is that this discussion has been going on for decades as to why women’s pain is considered a joke or an excuse. Fifty studies have been done. And hundreds of reports were published. But at present the matter is stuck where it started centuries ago.

‘If that (period blood) is touched even by mistake, the flourishing crop dries up. Animals die. A tree laden with fruits withers. Even brass gets rusted. When Roman philosopher and naturopath Pliny the Elder said this about periods, there was no reason for debate. Simple thing. For a few days of the month, the species named Stree should be kept under control so that the world does not go off the rails. This is what happened. The women, who were already shrinking, shrank a little more. But the matter did not end here.

Just as even the sharpest sword needs to be sharpened from time to time, similarly the danger of this venereal disease also started being reminded from time to time.

In the year 1874, an article published in ‘Popular Science’ journal was making waves. Its author Henry Mauldsley started being called in Europe including Britain to speak so that the rebellious women could calm down.

You should also read a part of the article – Comparison of men and women is not a comparison of two equal bodies and minds. Women become weaker and stupider than a child for a few days of the month and for many years of their life. The fear of periods increases due to long walks or eating too much food. So women, rest and eat lightly.

On one side, pamphlets on light food and high thoughts were being printed, on the other side some women started reading and writing. Taking long walks, she reached medical colleges and also started getting her degree.

It was as if water had fallen through a filter into a raga-coloured hot pan. The warnings given for years in the name of periods were going to be useless.

Men came together and in 1873 the London Obstetrical Society voted to bar women from holding ranks in hospitals. That was the fatal arrow in the doctors’ quiver – women become useless during periods. She will take care of her own pain, or that of the patient! Women doctors were made to sit at home with this argument. That is, on one hand there was a refusal to accept the pain, on the other hand restrictions were also imposed in reference to it.

In the year 2023, a petition was heard in our Supreme Court. The petitioner said that working women should get period leave. On this, the three-member bench said that there are many aspects to menstrual leave. By making the provision of leave, it may also happen that companies may start shying away from hiring women.

Despite all the sympathy, the bench refused to take any direct decision in this matter and said that if the Center wants, it can take this decision, we will not interfere.

The situation is the same in countries that are many times more modern than us.

In the Netherlands, where men and women are ‘almost’ equal, a survey four years ago revealed that only 14% of menstruating women take holidays. Even in this, only 20% women are able to tell the real reason to the boss. Most of the female employees suffer from fever for a few days every month or due to some family emergency.

As soon as the Second World War ended, Japan implemented its period leave policy. He wanted the women, who were tired of taking care of the household and outside during the war, to take some rest. It has been more than 70 years since this happened, but the situation is worse there. A survey by Tokyo’s financial newspaper Nikkei shows that although 48% of Japanese women suffer from pain, they are unable to take time off from work. Reason? A woman asking for leave on her periods is either a liar or incompetent. Or weak.

Imagine, during an office meeting, a female colleague gets up talking about period pain!

First of all it won’t happen. And if that happens, then when she is saying this, some men will be smiling in their hearts. Some may be irritable. So some would be sure that after leaving here she is going to go parlor-shopping or partying. Many may be regretting that they too wish they had such an excuse on which the boss would say yes without looking straight in the eyes.

Some women will also be included in the Man-Masosu group, who may be considering the speaker as shameless or outspoken. We also feel pain, but who has ever expressed his courage?

Period pain is a much-talked about subject. Let’s talk about the remaining problems. Like, pain during heart attack!

Within the next 10 years from 2003, about 1,500 women in England and Wales lost their lives because the people around them had no idea that women could also suffer from chest pain or even heart attacks. May fall. Most of the women were given prescriptions to do some work at home along with gas medicine.

According to The Conversation’s report, these were preventable deaths, meaning if treatment had been received in time, lives would have been saved.

Dr. Elizabeth Komen is a big name in cancer surgery. He had narrated an incident in an interview given to New York Times- One of my patients was just a few hours away from death. One by one the staff was bidding him farewell. When I reached there, he touched his cheeks to me affectionately. After a minute or so, she calmed down and said – I am sorry that I put my sweaty face close to you! The female patient is not the first to apologize even at the last moment.

According to Dr. Komen, women are constantly feeling ashamed – about their illness, about the disclosure of the disease, about the expense of medicines, about not being able to handle the house or outside due to weakness. Even dying prematurely, she feels that she is abandoning her responsibilities.

After this experience, Dr. Komen wrote a book – All in Her Head…in which he told how for centuries women’s diseases were avoided by calling them misconceptions. Even when she is still in pain, she starts apologizing.

A few weeks ago, an acquaintance wrote a long post on social media about girls suffering from periods. There was a line in the post written in English – ‘The world has not taken the contract to understand your pain. If you have pain, stay home. Leave the job of earning to us. The post disappeared after being trolled, but only the post.

‘If you have pain, sit at home!’

Many girls remain silent even when teased on the way to school so that no one can help them. Many women tolerate unwanted touching just so they don’t have to sit at home. To avoid sitting at home, half the world is forced to sit straight every month even with a stomach ache. Or she dies without taking gas medicine due to chest pain.