Knowledge in the field of healthcare is primarily based on studies among men. As a result, knowledge is lacking about the specific differences between men and women, both somatically and psychosocially. This has major consequences: bad diagnoses, unnecessarily high healthcare costs, and a lower quality of life for women.

The women’s network WOMEN Inc. has therefore been striving for quite some time to get gender-specific care on the political and social agendas. In 2014, for example, WOMEN Inc. established the Alliantie Gender en Gezondheid (Gender and Health Alliance), aimed among others at determining what gaps still exist in our knowledge about gender and health. This spring, that led to the Kennisagenda Gender en Gezondheid (Gender and Health Knowledge Agenda), which was presented to the ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sport on 16 June 2015. It was a great success: the knowledge agenda received much media attention, and healthcare minister Edith Schippers has since committed to reserving additional funds in the coming period for gender-specific healthcare. A splendid achievement!