Women’s health is finally being heard

For too long, menopause and perimenopause have been treated as something women should quietly work out for themselves. That silence has done harm. It has left many women confused by symptoms they were never warned about, uncertain about where to seek help, and too often feeling dismissed when they did.

Assistant Minister White’s work to lift national awareness of menopause and perimenopause is welcome. It gives women clearer language for experiences that have too often been poorly understood or left unspoken. 

Awareness matters, but it is only one part of improving women’s health. 

The real test is whether the services that follow are coordinated, accessible and built around the care women already rely on. That matters in Tasmania. 

Specialist women’s health services can play an important role, particularly for complex care and training. But if public investment is concentrated around one visible provider or network, while other GPs with comparable expertise are doing the same work without equivalent support, we have to ask whether policy is strengthening the whole system or simply backing a single model.

Women have lived with the consequences of a health system that has too often been designed, led and funded through a male lens. That is not about blame. It is about being honest. 

When women’s symptoms are normalised, minimised or misunderstood, women pay the price in their health, their work, their relationships and their confidence in the system.

Menopause is one part of a much bigger picture. 

Across Tasmania, AMA Tasmania hears from women and doctors about gaps in contraception, heavy menstrual bleeding, pelvic pain, endometriosis, fertility, pregnancy care, perimenopause and menopause. We also hear concerns in other areas of women’s health, including breast screening, gynaecological cancer care and gut health. These are mainstream health needs affecting women in every community.

There are encouraging initiatives underway. Endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics are being expanded across Australia, with a broader focus that includes support for perimenopause and menopause. 

A national network of LARC (Long-Acting Reversible Contraception) Centres of Excellence is also expected to improve access to IUDs and contraceptive implants, with one centre in each state and territory and outreach intended to provide clinical support and hands-on training for health professionals. That training element is important. If it works well, it should help GPs outside the centre itself maintain skills and confidence in providing LARC care. It may also reduce some of the barriers AMA Tasmania has previously raised, including cost, travel, workforce pressures and unclear referral pathways. The detail will matter, including how GPs access training, what it costs, and how services connect with existing local care.

This is where coordination becomes essential. Tasmania already has female general practitioners, and general practitioners with special interests in women’s health, working in communities across the state. They are in general practices in Hobart, Launceston, the North West, the West Coast, the East Coast and in smaller towns where women may not have the time, money or transport to travel for care.

These doctors know their patients, their families and their local health systems. They are often the first person a woman turns to when something does not feel right. 

New clinics and centres should strengthen those relationships, not sit apart from them. 

If additional public support is available to one GP women’s health service, there should be a clear and fair pathway for other qualified GPs and practices providing comparable care.

This is not about criticising any individual service. Women need more care, not less. But good policy should strengthen the whole system. Funding should follow need, expertise, access and projected demand, not visibility or proximity to political announcements.

Awareness campaigns, endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics, and better access to LARC are all positive steps. The question now is how they will work together, how they will keep primary care central, and whether governments have properly assessed the demand these services will be expected to meet.

It is not enough to announce new services if women cannot get an appointment, if GPs are not supported to refer into and learn from them, or if the model is overrun from the first day it opens.

Women’s health care should not depend on postcode, income or whether a woman happens to live near a particular service. It should be available through strong local general practice, backed by specialist support when needed, and informed by the lived experience of women themselves.

For generations, women have been expected to tolerate pain, confusion and silence as part of life. We can do better than that. Governments are listening, and that is welcome. The task now is to plan carefully, support the workforce already doing this care, and meet the demand that has been there all along.>>>ENDS