Chronic Illness & Women’s History Month
By Anne Gvozdjak
When we think about chronic illnesses, one of the first things we must acknowledge is their ubiquity. Even without consideration for hundreds of persistent mental illnesses, the New York State Department of Health lists fifteen major categories of chronic illnesses that we know of now. Cancer, one such category, is by itself known to have over a hundred different types. As we search for increasing awareness of the subtle differences in treatments or conditions and begin investing thousands more into the development of medicine specific to an individual’s genetics, it is only fitting to take a moment to pause. Consider the diversity of the people surviving and fighting and living with these illnesses, rather than the variety of the diseases themselves.
This year, International Women’s Day dawns on March 8th, a celebration of the struggles and victories that women worldwide have faced throughout the centuries. Throughout this March, I would encourage you to remember the diversity of the many women of all ages, colors, and sizes who are each on their own unique journey to battle chronic illnesses — often facing additional challenges in comparison to men.
Such challenges and disparities make themselves immediately evident when looking at recent medical research. Migraine headaches, for instance, are nearly three times as frequent in women as in men, likely due to their higher estrogen levels. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in American women, currently affecting over 3.8 million women but less than 3000 men. And although it was symptoms in older women’s bodies that first led to the global discovery of osteoporosis over seven decades ago, women over 50 are still twice as likely as their male counterparts to suffer a related fracture.
These statistics, though, are still just from academic studies. You can’t forget the story of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman who should be celebrated for her love for her family despite her vicious battle against cervical cancer and who was instead violated when her cells were taken from her without compensation and without consent. While Lacks’ story is, perhaps, of greater extremity and certainly more well-known than that of most women, the fact remains that blatant disparities exist in the ways that women are treated in hospitals today. In her 2017 blog post for the Harvard Medical School, Laura Kiesel described how the story of a man finding treatment and relief from his longtime chronic illness left her only with feelings of “weariness and frustration” as she recalled the “stark contrast [his story drew] to the experiences of many (if not most) women, [whose] pain is often abruptly dismissed as psychological — a physical manifestation of stress, anxiety, or depression.” Scientific studies have further clarified some of the ways in which women have been demeaned, dismissed, and disempowered when it comes to hospital visits, caregiving tasks, cultural restraints, and more.
Thus, as you reflect upon women’s history, pay attention to the stories of women facing chronic illnesses. Recognize female heroes who have been pioneers in making the treatment of chronic illnesses more equitable. Think of the frequency with which ordinary women are brushed aside and the need to normalize and de-stigmatize stories of pain or suffering for those women. Finally, engage with or support the writing or artwork of women living with such illnesses. From Meghan O’Rourke’s riveting story of her experience with an autoimmune disease from 2013, titled “What’s Wrong With Me?”; to Audre Lorde’s deeply personal memoir of journal entries written during her time fighting breast cancer, published in 1980 and titled “The Cancer Journals”; to Frida Kahlo’s vivid self-portraits and paintings communicating her own chronic pain from the early 1900s; the work of such women is infinitely touching and profound.