Women being left behind by AB health care system?

By Lethbridge Herald on June 10, 2025.

Alexandra Noad
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Women make up half of the population of Alberta and upwards of 90 per cent of nurses and allied health workers, but research from the Parkland Institute at the University of Alberta shows that not only are they not receiving equal treatment with their own health care, they’re also not being treated fairly in their jobs.

Women’s healthcare is often treated as a special corner of health care, Rebecca Graff-McRae, research manager at the Parkland Institute, told an audience at the Friends of Medicare Lethbridge Chapter brunch held on Saturday.

Graff-McRae said that is a disservice to everyone.

In a recent national survey, 76 per cent of women believe that the health care system is not designed to meet their needs, 74 per cent said they weren’t taken seriously and 62 per cent chose to delay or skip medical attention or health care services due to embarrassment or difficulty accessing those services. About 45 per cent of women had variously experienced delayed treatment or misdiagnosis.

Graff-McRae says these misdiagnoses are often small things that could be treated easily that end up becoming larger issues that need more intervention to treat.

“When they finally get a health care provider who understands their concerns and finds an appropriate code of treatment for them, often that health care condition is much further advanced.”

That can be extremely concerning in cases such as reproductive cancers or heart and stroke, which are often the most missed or misdiagnosed for women.

It’s not just women experiencing health concerns that are being left untreated, said Graff-McRae. Women experiencing pregnancy need access to care, and while midwives can offer services for uncomplicated pregnancies, the need for OBGYNs is dire.

At the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020, the Parkland Institute conducted surveys on workers in long-term care and 70 per cent of the respondents stayed late for their shift, 90 per cent experienced short staffing levels and 45 per cent said they recently did not have enough staffing to provide adequate care to their patients.

The health care workforce not only is dealing with low morale due do understaffing and overworking, said Graff-McRae, 48 per cent of registered nurses said they intend to leave the profession this year.

On top of all of the daily struggles they face, women in the health care field are often more likely to receive discrimination in the workforce.

“What we see with all of this is women within the healthcare workforce, this is already a very stressful and very emotionally demanding roll (but) it’s one they really value,” said Graff-McRae. “People go into caring professions because they care, but it also puts a tremendous strain, especially when they’re facing those additional obstacles.”

Graff-McRae says with government increasing the population by encouraging people to move to Alberta, it also a responsibility to ensure the sustainability of public systems, especially health care.

“When we take care of our health care workers, that’s going to help take care of Albertans, Albertan women and their families and communities.”