Engagement in women’s health: a history

Abstract

In parts of the world, patient and public involvement has become an essential part of health and research. In women’s health and research, there is a chronic lack of participation and inclusion of women throughout the research pathway. At the same time, the gender gap and bias in health data is increasingly recognised with urgency. Critics of conventional engagement and involvement methods cite tokenism, a chronic lack of investment, and pervasive structural biases as ongoing impediments to the implementation of“effective” or“meaningful” research engagement. Despite the emergence of NIHR imperatives and guidance through INVOLVE, researcher-driven needs from public engagement can be transactional, one-sided, and formulaic. The much called for“voices of women” in research, arguably, remain distant [1]. Cultivating effective methods of meaningful inclusion of women in research therefore remain an important area of research and engagement practice development priority. With the aim to contribute to the improvement of inclusion of people in women’s health research, this article connects current engagement in women’s health and research to the history from which the apparatus of engagement has developed. Using several historical examples including the Women’s Movement and global examples of women’s groups this article enriches the backdrop of women’s health and research today. By cultivating a deeper historical understanding around the absence and exclusion of women in women’s health and research, our understanding of the history of women’s health stands to better inform our awareness of the context of women’s health and therefore our approach to engagement overall. Perry and Mullins [1], £25 and a biscuit: Women’s Health Research and Public Engagement in the UK. Res Involv Engagem. 2023 Dec 15;9(1):120. doi: 10.1186/s40900-023–00519-1.