NSMen and women are equal, but not compatible. However, for a long time, medical science pretended so. Under the influence of FemTech, gender differences are now gradually taken into account, benefiting our health care.
The male body has always been central to the world of medicine, although many diseases and medicines have different effects on women. Also for gender issues, women still have to make do with less research and therefore less knowledge. In recent years, there have been five times as many studies of erectile dysfunction as premenstrual syndrome, although up to 90 percent of women experience this.
“It’s not that symptoms have to be normal because they are common,” says Morgan Lytten, who founded health platform Guud last year with her husband. “Our research showed that 9 out of every 10 women have complaints, but many of them “take them on board”, because generations ago they were said to be part of “being a woman”. Those three bad days per cycle add up to one month into the year. We should strive to get rid of the pain every day, right? “
It seems that this task has begun. Today, interest in women’s healthcare is growing under the influence of “FemTech”: the collective name for technologies, platforms, and innovations focused on women’s health and well-being. “75 percent of women know little or nothing about their menstrual cycle and hormones,” says Morgan, who welcomed 6,000 members shortly after Guud launched in 2020. “They come not only for specialized products, such as ovulation tests and supplements, but also for information about mood swings, cramps, hormonal acne… It’s still a taboo. Gynecologists are doing a good job, but women should go there too. to dare Togo. And if they do, it is often the task of putting all of their doubts and fears on the table during a 15-minute consultation.”
75% of women know little or nothing about their menstrual cycle and hormones.
Our research shows that 9 out of 10 women have complaints, but many deal with them.
– Morgan Litten, General
Morgan thinks FemTech can lower that limit: “It could become an important link in our healthcare system, next to the doctor and midwife…but also next to schools and companies, because our entire community of 9 to 5 mindset is still focused on a man’s daily testosterone cycle.” Not a woman’s fluctuating menstrual cycle.”
FemTech already here to stay. The next generation—one that focuses not only on reproductive health, but on women’s health care in general—is ready, too. “We also want to expand, for example, into education and support about menopause – and even more unknown – the stage after that,” Morgan says. “In the future, all of the different FemTech companies can group themselves further, in order to add a more targeted addition to professional care. This way we can move from generic healthcare to unique self-care and close the gender gap in medicine.”
