Gender neutral NHS advice is finally being thrown out, as it turned out today.
Women’s mentions were quietly dropped from health pages about cervical and ovarian cancer last year to be more “inclusive.”
The wake push also removed gender terms from the menopause page, even though the biological phenomenon only occurs in women.
But after a mass outcry and demands for a turnaround, gender-specific language has been reintroduced on the same three pages.
It’s part of the launch of a new NHS Women’s Health online hub, designed to ‘support women’s health at every stage of their lives’.
Following a mass outcry and demands for a turnaround, gender-specific language has been reintroduced across the three NHS women’s health pages, although two others remain gender neutral
However, not all pages affected by the inclusivity overhaul had yet to be fixed.
For example, the NHS’s official pages for uterine and vaginal cancer, which had the ‘women’ entry removed, remain unchanged in the latest update.
MailOnline approached the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and NHS Digital for comment on why some have changed and others have not.
Experts argue that the de-sexing of the NHS language pages is dangerous because it can overcomplicate vital health messages for women.
An earlier version of the NHS transition page described it as ‘when a woman stops menstruating and is no longer able to conceive naturally’.
But this was changed in May last year to “Menopause is the stopping of your period due to lower hormone levels.”
In the new update, however, the term “women” returns. The advice now states that menopause ‘usually affects women between the ages of 45 and 55’.
A line was also added that reads “it affects everyone who has their period” – referring to biological women who are no longer women who no longer identify as such.
Five other mentions of “women” or “female” that were removed from the menopause summary page as part of the overhaul remain removed.
The NHS ovarian cancer page has undergone a similar reversal.
It now reads, “Ovarian cancer affects the ovaries. It mainly affects women over the age of 50.
“It can affect anyone who has ovaries.”
The previous version of the page, which went out secretly last January, only read: “Anyone with ovaries can get ovarian cancer, but it mainly affects people over 50.”
This in itself was a change from, “Ovarian cancer, or cancer of the ovaries, is one of the most common cancers in women.”
The NHS page for cervical cancer, the area between the vagina and uterus, had previously had all mentions of women removed.
Now the line says, “Cervical cancer is a cancer found anywhere in the cervix. It mainly affects women under the age of 45.’
However, NHS pages for uterine and vaginal cancer are not included in the U-turn.
In 2021, the uterine cancer page stated, “Cancer of the uterus (uterine or endometrial cancer) is a common cancer that affects the female reproductive system,” and also included the word “women” in the description.
But the current version now describes the disease as “uterine cancer is cancer that affects the uterus,” omitting all mentions of “female” or “female.”
Ex-Health Minister Sajid Javid vowed to reverse gender-neutral language in NHS advice after MailOnline revealed that the term ‘women’ had been quietly erased from menopause advice in June. His successors have yet to commit to it
The same goes for the NHS vaginal cancer page.
In November 2021, there was a line on the page: “Vaginal cancer is rare, especially in women under 40.”
But, in a change made last year that has not yet been reverted, the summary section of this page omits this information entirely, requiring users to click through to the “symptoms” subheading to find any mention of gender.
When asked about the language changes, NHS Digital, who run the web pages on behalf of NHS England, said last year they wanted language to be ‘inclusive and respectful’.
MailOnline’s coverage of the matter elicited a pledge from then Health Minister Sajid Javid to reverse the language changes.
However, none of his successors, including current Health Secretary Steve Barclay, have publicly stated that they would honor his commitment.
Campaigners also stressed at the time that pages about men’s health, such as those about testicular cancer and the “male menopause,” had not undergone similar de-sexing.
The new NHS Women’s Health page was unveiled by DHSC this weekend as part of the one-year anniversary of the government’s health strategy for women.
Women’s Health Minister Maria Caulfield said: ‘We will continue to work and invest so that girls and women across the country can enjoy the world-class health care they deserve.’
The NHS transpregnancy pages, which have been criticized for including the phrases ‘breastfeeding’ and ‘breastmilk’ rather than breastfeeding and breastmilk, have not had any changes as part of the update.