Nowhere is the cost of ignoring women’s health more visible or more correctable than in the brain. Closing the women’s health gap could add $1 trillion in annual incremental GDP to the global economy. That figure should reframe how every boardroom and budget office thinks about women’s health. 

Women’s health is a macroeconomic opportunity we have ignored. Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services convened its inaugural National Conference on Women’s Health. It is time to treat this issue with the urgency and rigor it deserves.

Women live longer than men but spend roughly 25% more of their lives in poor health. The consequences show up in workforce productivity, family finances, and the long-term sustainability of healthcare systems. When we trace those costs to their source, the brain appears at the center, and therefore should be the entry point to the highest-impact solutions.

Breaking the cycle requires action in three places simultaneously. Research funders need to mandate sex-disaggregated data and fund women-focused trials for brain disease. Employers need to add menopause benefits and cognitive health support to standard benefits packages. And policymakers need to recognize women’s brain health as a core input to labor force........

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