Closing the gender gap’s a real pain. Period

At the chemist the other day, I noticed a large display for Nurofen; a stand packed with painkillers, announcing they are “Committed to closing the gender pain gap”. I paused, wondering what this “pain gap” is. Are they lobbying for men to experience period pain by having their lower torso repeatedly run over by a small tractor once a month? Or do they want men to feel the exquisite agony of labour pains like comedian Jack Whitehall having a TENS machine dialled up to 11 on his mid-section in Fatherhood with my Father?

Nurofen says it wants to close the ‘gender pain gap’. Is it lobbying for men to experience period pain?Credit:

On further investigation, in studies (done by Nurofen), one in every two women feels they’ve had their pain ignored or dismissed, which may be true, but I would estimate around two out of every two men routinely have their man flu ignored or dismissed by their female partners, which begs the question: why is Nurofen dabbling in gender politics when it comes to selling ibuprofen?

I frequently downplay my husband’s pain, telling him to put some bricks in his Weet-Bix as he limps around the house looking ginger when he’s managing some malady, as do many women I know to their partners. I’ve had my health concerns downplayed, like when I told the doctor that, after some initial Googling, I had diphtheria. I was told to go home, take some Panadol, rest and get off the internet, much to my indignation. The words “hypochondria” and “run down” were also uttered.

Women are tough as hell when it comes to pain. The primal screams of a woman having an “intervention-free” birth, while next door I was zonked out with an epidural, Tim Tam and a cup of tea are something I’ll never forget.

So what if people’s underestimation of women’s pain is a compliment rather than the insidious patriarchal machination it’s assumed to be? Nurofen’s British site claims that “1 in 2 women feel they have had their pain ignored or dismissed because of their gender”, which feels like a tenuous equation. Are all medical professionals men, or are they implying that even female doctors have some ingrained bias toward not believing women?

I’ve heard many stories of women having chronic pain downplayed by medical professionals and I don’t want to diminish that. But when it’s turned into a “campaign” about women’s pain, sponsored by a company that sells painkillers, it feels patronising and tokenistic.

I’m sure medical professionals have similarly dismissed men, but Nurofen hasn’t run a “man-flu is real” campaign as far as I know. Plus, men are at the bottom of the campaign hierarchy because they’ve already had their day in the sun and are less prone to buying ibuprofen once a month when Aunty Flo comes knocking.

It’s depressing that this is Nurofen’s take on a feminist issue. Imagine our brave ancestors fighting for women’s right to work, vote or wear a mini skirt, learning that feminism (according to a pharmaceutical company) in 2025 is campaigning against people not believing how bad your headache is.

There’s been a lot of chatter about whether “woke is broke” now that Donald Trump has re-entered the White House and is bulldozing diversity, equity and inclusion programs like his personal demolition derby. I thought we’d eased off corporate virtue signalling after the Great Bud Light Disaster of 2023, but it’s hanging around like an outbreak of measles in Byron Bay.

When it comes to turning pain into gendered politics, I tend to side with writer Flannery O’Connor, who wrote to her friend Betty Hester, “On the subject of the feminist business, I just never think ... of qualities which are specifically feminine or masculine. I divide people into two classes: the Irksome and the Non-Irksome without re­gard to sex.”

Let’s be rid of this irksome corporate virtue signalling, which rings hollow, and remind ourselves that both men and women have equal opportunity to be called hypochondriacs as well as have legitimate pain downplayed or ignored.

If we want to get serious about closing the gender pain gap, we should start by leaving the campaigning to those whose financial interests don’t lie in the “solution” – or making your male partner a cup of tea when he’s got the man flu, even if he’s up against Adrien Brody in this year’s Oscars for best actor.

Cherie Gilmour is a freelance writer.

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