Women are vastly underrepresented in medical studies

In the 1970s women were largely excluded from participating in medical studies, due largely in part to a 1977 FDA policy that recommended women of childbearing age be excluded from such studies. This policy did not contain exclusions for women who used contraception, were not sexually active, or were in a relationship with a man who had vasectomies. While the reasoning behind this policy was framed as being for the protection of pregnant women and their unborn children, the exclusion of women who were not carrying children caused, and continues to cause, many problems for women.

Many drugs today are prescribed to men and women in equal doses while many of those currently prescribed drugs were approved by the FDA during a time in US history when women were excluded from clinical trials. Research today is showing that women are having serious side effects, that men do not have, from the same medications. The "standard" dose of any given drug is not the standard dose for all people, but the standard for men. No such standard is available for women except through trial and error after all medical studies have been completed, meaning women who are given medications by their doctors cannot know the real side effects that can be caused by these drugs.