TY - JOUR T1 - Women’s health matters JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 556 LP - 557 DO - 10.3399/bjgp22X721193 VL - 72 IS - 725 AU - Anne Connolly AU - Dame Lesley Regan Y1 - 2022/12/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/72/725/556.abstract N2 - There has never been a better time for women’s health in the UK. The ‘strategies’,1 ‘plans’,2 and ambitions of the devolved nations’ governments have promised to reduce the inequalities that women experience.This editorial uses the phrase ‘women’ throughout. This is not aimed at being exclusive but is inclusive of the trans population, recognising that not all those born with female reproductive organs identify as a woman and not all women have female reproductive organs.For too long the physical, psychological, and social wellbeing of women has been compromised because of periods, pregnancy, or menopause. For too long research has been focused on male physiology and anatomy forgetting that, as quoted by Caroline Criado Perez in her book, Invisible Women. Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, that ‘women are not, to state the obvious, just men’. And for too long women of colour have been compromised more than others, creating a further inequality within an existing inequality.3,4The disproportionate impact of the wider social determinants of health on women is also undervalued, requiring system- wide change from social care, employers, voluntary sector, and the public if women’s health and wellbeing is to improve.There are many reasons that a spotlight on women is essential: women in the UK live longer than men but spend longer in ill health and disability;5women represent 51% of the UK population and 49% of the workforce, and undertake the vast majority of unpaid caring roles in society; … ER -