Every woman and WOC must read this book ! This is meticulous research and documentation of the mysogany and disparity of women's health care. I have experienced this myself on a ongoing basis as a woman and I began to research the subject and was shocked at the findings. As a woman I have experience physical abuse from doctors, malpractice, verbal abuse and egregious episodes of mysogany and dismissal of symptoms. It does not matter what age you are if your are a woman you will experience this in your lifetime. As a woman I have had to fight through the health care system for proper care and I can attest this book is a necessary and valuable read for all women and especially women of color.

The research and personal experiences are in depth and told honestly . The episodes of mysogany documented here that dismiss and fail the authors health are shocking and I have experienced this behavior myself. I highly recommend all women read this book and educate yourself because at some point in your life your health concerns will not be addressed and dismissed because your a woman. Read this and learn how to deal with racist, out of control sexism in western medicine . Its true, its real and its happening to millions of women across the US as simple health problems that become life threatening are dismissed and ridiculed. Women across the country are dying of endometriosis as they are dismissed as "hysterical". One common theme of male doctors is to refuse to treat women and instead write us off as "needing mental help". Daily the cases increase of malpractice and refusal to treat simple health problems Read this book and educate yourself. This is a important body of work that I highly recommend and found very valuable to my own health.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tiller Press for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 Stars

Wow this book was powerful!! I knew there were some gaps in the health care system, as I do work in it as a registered nurse, but I had no idea it was this big of a problem.

This book was heartbreaking and educational. It really shows how misogyny as well as racism plays a huge role in helping woman seeking medical attention when they are in pain. It can lead to terrible consequences for these patients, the worst being death.

This book was eye opening and important! As a health care professional I am glad I read this book! I highly recommended this to anyone working in the health care setting!

As a social worker, I can't ignore the inherent value in texts like this one. Well-researched, insightfully displayed, and carefully crafted, this is a work of nonfiction that I see myself coming back to time and time again. I have already texted a few friends and colleagues to mark their calendars for October 12th when they cant get their hands on this book themselves.

Great book that really resonated with my life. Thank you for publishing this and making others aware of what happens. Loved it.

This is a 3.5 rounded up to a 4 for me, but mostly because this is a subject I've read about a lot and so much of the book was a repeat for me. That said, the way Anushay Hossain presents it is her own and I appreciate the perspective she brings as someone raised in Bangladesh and now lives in the US. It is true that there is an expectation that our healthcare would be far superior, and yet it still fails far too many women and for many reasons. Others have written about this extensively, but Hossain was able to include a look into our current pandemic, which will no doubt set her book apart. This is a great read for those in the earlier stages of learning about our healthcare system and a painful reminder to those who have experienced sexism and/or racism while seeking care for themselves.

Put this on your nonfiction TBR list for the Fall! The Pain Gap How Sexism and Racism in Healthcare Kill Women is by Anushay Hossain.

Hossain, who grew up in Bangladesh in the 80’s, who spent years as a feminist policy analyst on Capitol Hill, working on global health legislation, who lived in the US, believed that her knowledge and access to the best healthcare in the world would protect her during her pregnancy and delivery. This was not the case, and Hossain almost died on the delivery table. Her story is not unique unfortunately, especially for women of color.

Due to the tendency not to trust women and to dismiss, or minimize symptoms as well as the ‘knowledge gap’, the fact that much less is known about women’s bodies and their diseases, women are being dismissed to death.

Hossain dives into the reasons why women are not believed for the medical pain they experience and how this directly correlates with maternal mortality. She goes beyond the important statistics to share stories of the people who make up those number touching on stories of pain, mental health, Covid and pregnancy and postpartum related issues.

The statistics are staggering and the stories are unbelievable. A must read to move forward with change.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for this ARC!

Read if you: Want an important, personal, and rage-inducing look at how women, especially WOC, are treated/mistreated/ignoredin the American healthcare system.

Librarians/booksellers: With healthcare access and inequity in the news, this is a great addition to your collection on contemporary issues.

Many thanks to Tiller Press and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so much more than I expected and should honestly be mandatory reading for anyone going into healthcare (or, honestly, anyone who votes in our country). As a young woman with an autoimmune disease, I have struggled to have my pain and symptoms believed by both doctors and laypeople. I picked up this book hoping to learn more about bias in medicine and why this disbelief still happens.

What I got from this book, however, was a comprehensive look at the extent of the historical systems of oppression facing all women in the US, but more specifically, women of color in the US and how continued bias tangibly endangers women’s lives. It should be mandatory reading!

This was an incredibly informative book. Joss’s I took a deep dive into how society fails women, especially Black women & women of colour in the medical sphere. I highly recommend it, I would love to see a similar book that touched a bit more on the trans/LGBTQ2S+ experience as well!

This book is insightful, encouraging, and simultaneously infuriating (in a good way). I highly recommend every person read this book. Lack of access and care goes beyond birth control and care. Women are dying because of improper practices doctors are keeping. Racist assumptions and sexist beliefs especially harm black women.

If you are interested in pregnancy, if you are interested in birth control, if you are interested in supporting access to medical care, you should read this book. We must be having these important discussions about the harm of our restrictive laws and lass of accessible care. Abortion access and care are vital to the health of people who can get pregnant.

Every doctor should read this book, ESPECIALLY male doctors. Medical care providers need to understand better what they are doing wrong, and this book helps highlight many stories.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

As a woman of color, I can say that I am so proud that this book was written to shed light on way women of color are treated in healthcare. We have died unexpectedly and unnecessarily do to the beliefs and practices taught to healthcare providers. Must read for sure!

This book thoroughly covers an extremely relevant subject matter in our current political climate in the US. I found this book to be well written and extremely well researched. I felt that I learned a lot about the background of this issue and how it affects different racial groups. I have lived through a lot of the issues as a woman in America and was extremely interested in learning more about what it is like to be a woman of color. I think this is a must read for all people. I was particularly intrigued about the information about home births and how these were abolished and why they are widely re-emerging into our country as an option.. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley. I found this read to be eye-opening and very current.

Was shocked and so saddened by much in this book. I think it will appeal to a wide variety of nonfiction readers and should be in most mid sized library collections.

This book was an easy 5-star read for me. I requested it because I was really interested in the topic. Anushay Hossain beautifully incorporates research throughout the book in a way that is both accessible and shocking. As someone who was somewhat aware of how women are dismissed in the medical system, I still found myself reading over sections multiple times to truly grasp what was written. This book should be required reading for everyone.

4.5⭐
Content warnings: Pregnancy, maternal mortality, racism, death

Remember when the J&J vaccine was paused in the US because 6 in 6,000,000 women vaccinated experienced blood clots? As a white American woman, I am more likely to die in childbirth than to experience vaccine-related complications and that's honestly wild given that our health care systems is one of the best in the world.

Anushay Hossain dives into the reasons why women are not believed for the medical pain they experience and how this directly correlates with the maternal mortality rate. She goes beyond the important statistics to share stories of the people who make up those numbers.

I learned:
+The root of the word "hysteria" is the Greek word for uterus so women are termed as hysteric because of our anatomy 🙄
+Due to hormonal cycles screwing with research trial data, women were largely excluded from medical research trials and it wasnt until 2016(!!!) that the NIH recognized this bias and mandated that studies receiving research grant money must include women
+Because many research trials do not include women, it makes doctors less likely to diagnose women with medical issues because women can (and often do) experience different symptoms than men for the same medical issue
+Doulas are extremely important for women especially women of color because their advocacy for women during birth results in better recognition of medical issues occuring during or after birth
+Women of color have much higher maternal mortality rates because they are even less listened to by their doctors and nurses so midwife and birth centers prioritize mothers of color to help ensure they receive the advocacy they need
+Covid made so many of these issues even worse as less people were allowed to attend doctors appointments or be in birthing rooms resulting in less advocacy for women, particularly women of color

I read the ARC of this book and I do hope this book continues to be edited. There were several long chapters where it felt like the focus of the book became lost. I loved the focus of race in this book but wish there had been more trans representation or other minority issues.

Even so, I think this book is incredibly important for all women and men to read, especially anyone who plans to have kids and especially for people of color and their allies. There are so many challenges that surround the care we give to expecting and new mothers in this country that many aren't exposed to until having children. This book taught me so much and I plan to continue learning and thinking about how I can use this book to make change.