In 2013, Danish tech entrepreneur Ida Tin embarked on a mission to address a perplexing gap in women’s health technology. Despite monumental achievements like moon landings and the internet, understanding a woman’s fertility cycle remained elusive. Tin’s solution was Clue, an app designed to help women track their menstrual cycles for conception or contraception. Today, Clue boasts 10 million users across 190 countries.
Clue was among the pioneering products in what Tin later termed “femtech” in 2016. This sector, focusing on women’s health through technology, is projected to soar to $103 billion by 2030. In a recent TED talk, Tin envisioned a future filled with innovations like capsules to block sperm, sweat sensors for hormone monitoring, and urine tests for breast cancer detection. “Being a woman is an intense ride,” she remarked, highlighting the vast business potential in addressing women’s health needs.
The Rise of Femtech
Proponents of femtech argue that it addresses a long-standing neglect in women’s healthcare, offering solutions to the approximately 4 billion women worldwide. However, not everyone is convinced of its benefits. During a recent University of Sydney symposium, Professor Barbara Mintzes raised concerns about femtech’s potential risks.
“It builds on the language of women’s liberation but misuses it for commercial purposes,” Mintzes stated. Many femtech products, while marketed as empowering, often bypass clinical oversight and exploit women’s fears, according to Mintzes and her colleague, Dr. Brooke Nickel. They warn that social media promotion of unverified femtech interventions can lead to misinformation, false positives, and unnecessary treatments.
Challenges and Concerns
Fertility tracking is a prime example of potential pitfalls. Women can easily order hormone tests to gauge ovarian reserve, but these tests cannot accurately predict fertility or reproductive timelines. Yet, many women are misled into believing they can. In Australia, a survey revealed that about a third of women who obtained these tests did so for future fertility planning.
Nickel and Mintzes caution that such tests can create a false sense of security about delaying pregnancy, induce anxiety about conceiving, and pressure women into unnecessary procedures like egg freezing or IVF. Similarly, products related to perimenopause and menopause often promise more than they can deliver.
The Vulnerable Audience
Mintzes points out that femtech companies, driven by sales, may portray menopause as a dire condition rather than a natural life stage. “There are a minority of women who have severe hot flushes and find hormone treatment helpful,” she noted. However, the push for hormone treatments for a wide range of symptoms not consistently linked to menopause raises concerns.
“I’m concerned about the over-marketing of hormone treatments for menopause because of the concern that more women will develop breast cancer, that more women will develop serious blood clots.”
Moreover, the framing of hormones as preventive measures against dementia or cardiovascular disease is problematic. Mintzes emphasizes the need for independent evaluations of scientific evidence and better regulation of social media marketing.
Implications for Women’s Health
While reproductive health is a major focus, other femtech products target fitness, suggesting women require different exercise regimens than men. Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple, a researcher in female physiology at McMaster University, challenges this notion. “Training should be goal-specific, not sex-based,” she asserts, emphasizing that fitness programs should cater to individual goals rather than gender.
Colenso-Semple criticizes the non-evidence-based messages directed at women, which often complicate fitness unnecessarily. Mintzes echoes this sentiment, urging women to “beware of the money trail” and the financial interests behind misleading information.
Despite the challenges, the potential of femtech to revolutionize women’s healthcare remains significant. However, it requires a balanced approach, ensuring that innovations are backed by solid scientific evidence and that marketing strategies are transparent and ethical.
As the femtech industry continues to grow, the need for informed consumer choices and regulatory oversight becomes increasingly critical. The future of femtech holds promise, but it must navigate the complex landscape of healthcare with caution and integrity.
