Health inequalities faced by women and girls in Scotland are deeply entrenched within the systems that are meant to care for us.

When it comes to healthcare, women consistently describe experiences of not being listened to or taken seriously. Women wait longer to be diagnosed or prescribed pain medication than men and are more likely to have physical symptoms ascribed to mental health issues.

We are more likely to have heart disease misdiagnosed or to become disabled after a stroke. Women are also more likely to suffer illnesses historically ignored, minimised or denied by the medical profession, including Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), endometriosis, symptoms associated with menopause and others.

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Health issues that disproportionately affect women, or affect women differently to men, have historically lacked funding and professional focus, meaning that women’s health needs are not equally prioritised and understood across health services. For example, although women’s life expectancy exceeds that of men, women spend longer living with disability and ill health, and more women than men in Scotland live with a long-term health condition.

Women and men experience mental health differently; more women report experiencing anxiety disorders, and women are twice as likely to be affected by depression than men. Autoimmune diseases have a greater........

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