Talking Tech and Talking Personal
How do you get better about talking about sexual “taboos”?
Last week, I presented and won as the CEO and founder of my endometriosis-focused FemTech company, FlowIntell. I won the $10,000 empowerment grant, which should have been a moment of unabashed celebration. Yet, I find myself hesitating, not out of ingratitude, but because I was, and still am, a naturally reserved person. I don’t like to brag, which makes me hesitant to share my own victories, even as they unfold, and I find that this is a recurring theme in the FemTech sphere. Why is this?
Wins like this one, that are graciously given by Women’s Empowerment Grant, help break the silence surrounding women's health. They help challenge the societal taboos that have veiled issues like endometriosis, menstruation, incontinence, menopause, and postnatal depression.
One of the most significant challenges FemTech entrepreneurs face is the lack of scientific knowledge and medical education on women's health issues. It's a gap that affects all women in FemTech as we strive to create innovative tech solutions to address these very problems (Frost & Sullivan, 2020b). Advocacy becomes a necessity, but so does education. We needed to collect data, advance research, and build the foundation for our products and services. We can only do this if women are willing to speak up.
From the societal taboos and knowledge gaps arises a stark lack of awareness surrounding women's health. Only 48% of European women feel comfortable discussing contraception; even fewer are willing to talk openly about sexual desire and sexually transmitted diseases (STADA, 2020). Most women don't even understand their menstrual cycle. This lack of knowledge often leads to women being unaware of their own medical conditions, unable to recognize symptoms, and hesitant to seek medical help (Frost & Sullivan, 2020). Even when they do, doctors might fail to recognize their symptoms, leading to agonizingly long diagnosis times, as is the case with endometriosis.
The absence of health literacy, the result of these interconnected issues, is a critical challenge Key stakeholders in the FemTech industry, including capital providers, mentors, or VCs, may lack awareness of women's health issues Potential customers, both female users and healthcare providers, may hesitate to embrace FemTech solutions due to these barriers (Frost & Sullivan, 2018; Zion Market Research, 2020).
Women's hesitance to embrace FemTech can often be traced back to their own unawareness of their conditions and the prioritization of others' well-being over their own. Despite bearing the greatest responsibilities for their families, women often place their own care on the back burner. Astonishingly, while 80% of women worldwide acknowledge the importance of self-care, only 1% are willing to take steps to improve it (Frost & Sullivan, 2020). The challenge lies in reaching and educating this audience, nurturing them to embrace FemTech solutions, and underscoring the need for passionate advocates to amplify their voices.
