Story Highlights
- 51% of U.S. women agree they’ve had at least one problem when accessing care
- 47% of women waited three or more months for their most recent diagnosis
- 42% of women say their health has kept them from doing all they want in life
Editor’s Note: This research was conducted in partnership with Pivotal, a group of organizations founded by Melinda French Gates to accelerate social progress for women and young people in the U.S. and around the world.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — One-third of U.S. women (34%) strongly or somewhat agree that a healthcare provider has minimized or dismissed their symptoms at some point in the past five years. Roughly the same percentage, 33%, report being misdiagnosed or being unable to get a diagnosis. Nearly as many say they could not get the answers they needed (31%), while one in four (25%) have received conflicting recommendations.
In total, half of women (51%) report at least one of these experiences, compared with 39% of men. These experiences are associated with more than just health outcomes.
Women are also more likely than men to report needing to advocate for their health. Reflecting on their healthcare experiences over the past five years, 42% of women say they have had to speak up or advocate for their health, compared with 26% of men.
These findings are part of the Gallup-Pivotal Women's Health Survey, conducted online July 14-22, 2026, among 3,845 women and 1,296 men via the Gallup Panel.
Women More Often Wait Three Months or Longer for a Diagnosis
Among women who have received a diagnosis for their most recent health condition, nearly half (47%) waited three months or longer, including 22% who waited a year or more.
Men report shorter wait times to be diagnosed, on average. Women report experiencing conditions that involve longer diagnostic paths more often than men, including mental health conditions and chronic pain. But the gap in diagnosis time between men and women persists even when comparing men and women diagnosed with the same type of condition. This suggests the gap exists not only because women and men report different kinds of conditions but also because they experience the healthcare system differently.
Many women need to advocate for themselves to receive a diagnosis or treatment. Thirty percent of women who have experienced a health condition agree that they had to push to be taken seriously or to receive treatment for their most recent condition.
Health Issues Can Limit Women’s Opportunity to Fully Participate in Life
Forty-two percent of women versus 35% of men say that in the past five years, their health has kept them from doing everything they wanted to do in life.
Women who report experiencing problems with their care are also more likely to say their health affects other aspects of their life. For example, among women who say a provider has minimized or dismissed their symptoms, 59% say their health has kept them from doing everything they wanted to do, compared with 36% of women who have not felt dismissed by a provider. The same pattern extends across work, family and community roles.
Among women in the workforce, 42% feel that their health has limited their career in some way in the past five years, including feeling that a promotion, leadership role or new job is unrealistic; that they have fewer career options; and that they can't live up to their full potential at work.
Health also affects women's ability to care for themselves and others. About one in three women (32%) say their health has made it harder to care for themselves, 27% say it has made caring for their family harder, and 26% say it has caused them to miss events with family or friends.
Women’s health can also influence their community involvement. About one in four women (24%) say they have become less involved in community or civic activities because of their health.
Menopause Affects Women's Self-Care, Work and Community Life
Health needs are not evenly distributed across a woman's lifetime, and some are concentrated at particular stages. Perimenopause and menopause typically begin in a woman's 40s or 50s. Among women aged 45 to 54, 74% report current or past symptoms of perimenopause or menopause.
When seeking treatment for symptoms of menopause or perimenopause, 24% of women say they had to push to be taken seriously or to receive treatment, 23% had to see multiple providers before their symptoms were addressed or diagnosed, and 20% could not get the care they needed despite trying.
Menopause-related physical or mental health challenges also affect women's day-to-day lives. Four in 10 women who have experienced menopause or perimenopause say it has negatively affected their life or work in one or more of nine different ways, including finding it harder to care for themselves, taking more frequent or longer breaks at work, and stepping back from involvement in their community.
Implications
Negative healthcare experiences are common among U.S. adults overall, but they are more common among women. Women are more likely than men to say they have been dismissed, misdiagnosed or left without clear answers, and they are more likely to wait three months or longer for a diagnosis, a difference that persists even among those diagnosed with the same types of conditions.
The impact of these negative experiences extends beyond health outcomes, as women who report problems with their care are more likely to say their health has limited their career, their caregiving, their relationships and their community involvement.
The research confirms that understanding women's health means looking beyond whether care is available to what happens after women seek it, including whether symptoms are taken seriously, next steps are clear, diagnoses are timely and treatment meets their needs. Better experiences in each of these areas would support women, and all patients, in sustaining the work, relationships and community roles that matter to them.
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