A striking new study has revealed a significant imbalance in how medical research is funded for women in Canada, suggesting that the current system overlooks vast portions of a woman’s life. Researchers from the University of Toronto, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and the Women’s Health Research Cluster analyzed over a decade of grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and found that only 6.4 percent of funding went toward research specifically centered on women’s health. While some progress has been made, the team discovered that the available money is heavily skewed toward pregnancy, leaving other critical life stages largely ignored.
Dr. Liisa Galea, a senior scientist at CAMH and professor at the University of Toronto, pointed out a jarring mathematical reality regarding how we view women’s biology. She noted that while pregnancy is essential to study, women spend only about one percent of their lives pregnant, whereas nearly half their lives are spent menstruating and roughly 39 percent occur postmenopause. Despite this, pregnancy related studies dominated the landscape, accounting for 37 percent of all female specific grants during the fifteen year period studied. Meanwhile, topics like puberty and menstrual cycles received almost negligible support.
The disparity extends beyond just timing to include debilitating health conditions that affect millions. The study highlighted a severe lack of investment into endometriosis and polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, as well as hormonal contraception. According to lead author Dr. Laura Gravelsins, there is a clear disconnect between what patients actually need and where the money goes. Public surveys indicate that women prioritize information on menopause and how hormonal shifts influence brain and mental health, yet those priorities are rarely reflected in federal grant allocations.
Closing this lifespan gap is being framed by researchers not just as a scientific necessity but as an issue of health equity. By broadening the research agenda to cover everything from adolescence through postmenopause, experts argue they can create a more inclusive healthcare model that recognizes the biological complexity of being a woman. For Dr. Galea and her colleagues, right sizing these investments is an urgent step toward ensuring that medical evidence finally reflects the actual lived experiences of women across every stage of their lives.
