Gender inequalities significantly worsen women’s access to cancer prevention, care, and treatment, say health experts who are calling for the immediate introduction of a “feminist approach” to cancer.
A Lancet Commission on women, power, and cancer says that the cancer burden in women is significantly under-recognised with cancer ranking in the top three causes of premature mortality among women in almost all countries worldwide.1
Women’s healthcare is often focused on reproductive and maternal health or on “women’s cancers,” such as breast and cervical cancer, despite lung and colorectal cancer being among the top three causes of cancer deaths in women.
The commission, made up of a multidisciplinary team from around the world including those with expertise in cancer epidemiology, prevention, and treatment; gender studies; human rights; law; and economics, as well as patient advocates, was set up to analyse how women experience …