Science has published a special issue dedicated to women's health, aiming to move beyond the traditional focus on reproduction. The editors, an all-female team, said political attacks on women's rights and funding cuts made the issue urgent. The introduction notes that sex-dependent differences affect many non-reproductive diseases at all ages, yet women remain poorly represented in clinical trials.
One review examines why women experience functional pain at roughly twice the rate of men, pointing to sex hormones, immune-neural interactions, and the gut microbiome. The authors criticize the persistent "all in your head" approach to female pain and call for more concrete answers. Another review argues that XX and XY chromosomes have such a significant impact on aging and disease that they should always be considered in precision medicine.
Other contributions call for individualized menopause treatment, research on the immune system's role in pregnancy, and study of the ovary's postmenopausal function. Experts quoted in the article say the field has historically equated women's health with reproductive health, and while that is broadening, conditions like menopause remain unique and underfunded. One menopause justice advocate noted the issue lacks perspectives on early menopause from gender-affirming care or medical interventions, showing the limits of current research.