In 2013, Danish tech entrepreneur Ida Tin was on the cusp of a groundbreaking idea. She pondered why, despite humanity’s ability to reach the moon and create the internet, there was still no simple solution for women to track their fertility cycles. This led her to develop Clue, an app designed to help women either conceive or avoid pregnancy by tracking their monthly cycles. Today, Clue boasts 10 million users across 190 countries.
Clue was among the pioneering products in the femtech sector, a term Tin coined in 2016 to describe technology focused on women’s health. The femtech industry is projected to grow to a staggering $103 billion by 2030. In a recent TED talk, Tin envisioned future innovations such as capsules that alter vaginal mucus to prevent sperm mobility, sweat sensors for continuous hormone monitoring, and urine-based breast cancer detection.
While femtech is hailed as a transformative force for women’s healthcare, offering solutions long overlooked by traditional medical fields, some experts urge caution. During a recent symposium at the University of Sydney, Professor Barbara Mintzes highlighted potential risks associated with femtech, warning that it often exploits women’s health concerns for commercial gain.
The Commercialization of Women’s Health
Professor Mintzes, a specialist in evidence-based pharmaceutical policy, argues that while femtech products promise empowerment and convenience, they frequently bypass essential clinical oversight. “It builds on a lot of the language from women’s liberation but is misusing it for commercial purposes,” she stated in a recent interview.
Social media plays a significant role in the rapid spread of femtech products, often leading to misinformation and unproven interventions. This can result in false positives, overtreatment, psychological distress, financial loss, and inappropriate test usage. Fertility tracking is a prime example, where women can order hormone tests to assess ovarian reserve. However, these tests cannot accurately predict fertility timelines, leading many women to mistakenly believe they can forecast their reproductive futures.
“There is a vulnerability that is social discrimination related to ageing, and women being especially worried about ageing and telling people what they’re going to experience later is something to worry about.” – Professor Barbara Mintzes
Risks and Misconceptions in Femtech
In Australia, a survey revealed that about a third of women who obtained fertility tests did so for future planning. According to Mintzes and her colleague Dr. Brooke Nickel, the risks include a false sense of security about delaying pregnancy, anxiety over conception abilities, and pressure to pursue unnecessary interventions like egg freezing or IVF.
Similarly, products targeting perimenopause and menopause can be problematic. Mintzes notes that the femtech industry often portrays menopause as a condition requiring treatment rather than a natural life stage. This can lead to the over-marketing of hormone treatments, which may increase the risk of breast cancer and serious blood clots.
Exercise and Femtech: A Misguided Approach
Beyond reproductive health, some femtech products promote exercise plans based on the notion that women need to train differently from men. Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple, a researcher at Canada’s McMaster University, challenges this notion. “Training should be goal-specific, not sex-based,” she asserts, emphasizing that fitness programs should be tailored to individual goals rather than gender.
“Many messages directed at women online, selling ‘female-based’ programs, are not evidence-based and overcomplicate fitness for women, which I do believe is harmful.” – Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple
Looking Forward: Balancing Innovation and Caution
As the femtech industry continues to expand, experts like Mintzes stress the need for independent evaluations of scientific evidence and better regulation of social media marketing. “We need independent evaluations of the scientific evidence out there in a way that’s easy for people to understand,” she states, highlighting the challenge of addressing the minimization of women’s health concerns historically.
While femtech holds promise for addressing long-neglected areas of women’s health, the industry must navigate the fine line between innovation and exploitation. As the sector grows, ensuring that products and services are both safe and effective will be crucial in realizing the potential benefits of femtech for women worldwide.
