Open petition: Establish mandatory training to tackle medical misogyny in the NHS

Created by Rhiannon Evans
Closes on 23 October 2026

We want the government to make comprehensive training in women’s health and sex-specific medicine mandatory for all healthcare professionals, in order to tackle what many see as a culture of medical misogyny in the NHS.

Medical misogyny - the systemic dismissal, minimisation or misdiagnosis of women’s symptoms - has been repeatedly acknowledged by politicians but too many women still face delayed diagnoses, unmanaged pain, and being told their symptoms are “normal”, “stress” or “in their head”. One survey reported 58% of women agreed that the NHS is institutionally misogynistic.
The consequences can be serious: worsening illness, avoidable complications, and a growing loss of trust in the health service.

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