Canadian Bill Intended to Close Gaps in Women’s Healthcare

[Sandra Holdsworth]

Gaps in women’s healthcare have been a problem in Canada for decades. Unlike most other Western countries, Canada does not have a national framework for women’s health. But that situation could soon change following Senator Danièle Henkel’s introduction of Bill S-243, which would establish such a framework. Support from the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC), the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Alliance (CWHHA), Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS), Women’s Health Coalition (WHC), and other stakeholders in women’s health, as well as political parties on both sides of the aisle, suggests that the bill may be enacted.

Henkel’s interest in improving women’s health in Canada originated in her professional experience as a women’s health and beauty products entrepreneur, as well as her experience as a breast cancer survivor and mother of cancer survivors. “Our healthcare system often performs well during the acute phase of an illness but steps back too early,” she told Medscape News Canada. Women must “navigate reconstruction, psychological care, and long-term recovery alone.”

In addition, access to care depends on where the patient lives, Henkel continued, and women remain underrepresented in research. “In 2025, only 7% of federal research and development funding was dedicated to women’s health,” she said. “Women face delayed diagnosis because their symptoms are misunderstood, minimized, or assessed using clinical models developed primarily around men.…Today, we still train our doctors and our professional healthcare specialists only 10% on women’s bodies.”

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[Kim Locke]

@Sandra-Holdsworth Women were thought of as "little men" until 1977, when they were introduced into research for the first time in Canada.

I also wonder if women in protected minority groups will also feel health equity once this bill gets passed? We have a very long way to go.

[Jenna Kedy 0]

@Sandra-Holdsworth Thank you so much for sharing this, Sandra!! This one immediately caught my attention and I’ll definitely be writing my MP about Bill S-243! As a 22-year-old woman who has been navigating healthcare since childhood, I’ve learned VERY early that women’s health is so much bigger than reproductive health. I was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis at 11 and have since navigated chronic illness, pain, mental health, serious illness and the transition from pediatric to adult care. Now getting to bring those experiences into healthcare advocacy makes this feel especially personal. Women and girls deserve research, education and healthcare systems actually designed with our bodies and experiences in mind and not treated like an afterthought and women with lived experience absolutely need to be helping shape whatever comes next, not just consulted at the very end. MP email incoming! Thanks for putting this on my radar!!