Schools will be instructed to stop separating students for sex education sessions in order for boys to grow up with a better awareness of female health issues.
As part of a ten-year Women’s Health Strategy for England, doctors will also receive additional training on contraception and the menopause.
Ministers want to address a culture of ‘medical misogyny’ which leaves women struggling to access the same quality of care as men. The Government has set an ambition to ensure women and girls ‘have their concerns taken seriously’.
It comes after 84% of those polled said that when they seek help from the NHS, women are frequently ignored.
Schools are being urged not to separate boys and girls for lectures on relationships, sex, and health, but will instead begin teaching students about women’s health, including the menopause, “from an early age.”
This will raise awareness, the approach claimed, and ensure that “issues such as menstrual health, contraception, and menopause are no longer taboo subjects.”
As part of the revisions, the General Medical Council will evaluate medical students on women’s health, including issues like menopause, obstetrics, and gynaecology.
In addition to receiving specialised training, staff completing training to become general practitioners or physiotherapists will also have access to other courses that will supplement their education.
The strategy said: ‘As a result, more doctors will have a better baseline understanding of women’s health.’ In a raft of commitments, there will also be a drive to end the ‘postcode lottery’ in access to IVF treatment, which currently sees some areas offering one cycle and others three.
The first Women’s Health Strategy for England intends to increase the number of female health centres and ‘one-stop clinics.’
According to the report, “Historically, the health and care system has been designed by men for men.”
Transgender males and non-binary people with female reproductive organs should always be invited to cervical and breast cancer screenings, according to the plans.
Steve Barclay, the health secretary, stated: ‘Our health and care system only works if it works for everyone.’
He insisted: ‘It is not right that 51 per cent of our population are disadvantaged in accessing the care they need simply because of their sex.
‘The publication of this strategy is a landmark moment in addressing entrenched inequalities and improving the health and wellbeing of women.’