A research paper presented at the conference for the International Association for the Study of Pain claimed that women experience recurrent pain, which is more severe and long lasting than pain experienced by men. Moreover recurrent pain in women has different symptoms as compared to the pain in their male counterparts.

Experts claim that women are more susceptible to a range of painful conditions, due to different hormones, body composition and central nervous systems. This paper emphasized that even medical experts are not aware of this fact. Women suffering from pain are not taken seriously by doctors.

According to traditional notion, women bodies posses a higher pain threshold that helps them in bearing the pain of childbirth. But researchers claim that women have no such higher pain threshold. The study has also shown that women don’t receive proper treatment for pain.

Experts at the conference in Glasgow explained various reasons behind the improper treatment of pain of women. They claim that various women patients experiencing pain are not taken seriously by doctors. Symptoms of pain in women are discarded as psychological by doctors.

The research paper also emphasized on various social factors related to pain. Treatment of pain in women is also dependent on the culture of the specific area. In some cultures, women think pain as a part of womanhood. Sometimes women don’t get treatment due to absence of female doctor because treatment by male doctors is not considered honorable by some cultures.

Dr Troels Jensen, the association’s president, said that chronic pain affects a higher proportion of women than men, but unfortunately they are also less likely to receive treatment compared to men due to various cultural, economic and political barriers. He added that IASP hopes to provide a voice to these women by drawing attention to this global issue as a first step towards reducing pain and suffering of women around the world.