Unless you were paying close attention, you might have missed a movement gaining momentum in the tech scene. It is not about artificial intelligence, large language models or a super intelligence that is apparently going to make our lives easier.
We are talking about femtech – the development of innovative products and services designed to solve issues that primarily or disproportionately affect women.
Technology for women used to mean something very different. This was highlighted for me a few years ago when a website that had pitched itself as a women’s tech site for several years suddenly switched to being a generic technology publication, with a “gadgets for girls” section tacked on.
In addition to feeling more than a little patronising to its former readers, the gadgets in question were mainly “sensual” massagers and sex toys.
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Thankfully, that narrow view of what women want and need from technology has been edged out, to be replaced with more practical solutions. If reading about women’s menstrual cycles, the menopause or breastfeeding makes you squeamish, you might want to avert your eyes now.
Femtech is becoming a hot topic. From period trackers (that don’t sell your data) and menopause products such as Peri’s wearable vest to Coroflo’s breastfeeding monitor and OnaWave’s technology to help diagnose and treat pelvic conditions, the sector has seen a rise in the number of entrepreneurs interested in bringing innovation to women’s health.
We are becoming more open about health issues too. People talk about periods and menstrual cycles, rather than euphemistically referring to something that affects around half the population as “women’s troubles”. Companies seem to have finally realised that menopause (and perimenopause before it) is a real condition that affects almost half the workforce and is worthy of workplace support.
And it could bring a whole new industry to Ireland. A new report from Health Innovation Hub Ireland and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at University College Cork has laid out just how beneficial the femtech movement could be to Ireland.
The report, Femtech in Ireland, claims that Ireland could position itself as a leader in femtech, the global market for which is expected to reach $97 billion by 2030.
You might ask why there is the need for femtech, rather than just investing in health tech and targeting a wider audience
But there is more to it than that. Closing the women’s health gap, the report says, could boost the global economy by $1 trillion each year by 2040. That is before you get to the new medical treatments and interventions it could unlock for the wider population, not just women.
Innovation in women’s health remains underfunded. But the people supporting the femtech movement in Ireland know how to hook their audience – appeal to the money-making side of things.
While femtech means potentially better healthcare for women, which is to be applauded, there is also money to be made. There are few industries out there that have sprung up simply because they will make things better for the human race, with zero monetary reward for those who come up with the goods.
There have been efforts to address this. In 2022, Health Innovation Hub Ireland set up a femtech hub with the goal of supporting start-ups and innovators. It has succeeded in supporting more than 30 companies over the past two years and created a network to support women’s health innovation.
You might ask why there is the need for femtech, rather than just investing in health tech and targeting a wider audience. A glance through the book Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez will make it clearer, laying out the many ways women have been forgotten about when it comes to designing products, services and guidelines that are supposed to protect them.
Smartphones designed for a typical hand size come to mind. So too, car-safety tests carried out for years with the “typical” male dummy. There is no shortage of protective equipment designed for male bodies, with women an afterthought.
Even in the health sector, things have traditionally skewed to the male experience. Heart attacks present differently in women, but much of the literature that talks about “typical” symptoms really means typical for men. Clinical trials were, for years, biased towards men, with results that could ultimately put women at risk because it led to treatments that had not been tested on female bodies.
Big companies are recognising the potential here, regardless of their motivation for doing so
In fact, as the femtech report highlights, women were not routinely included in clinical trials until the 1990s, when the US mandated that they must be. Why? Because of our pesky hormones, which fluctuated and could mess things up, or the risk to pregnancy.
Woman are 51 per cent of the population. They make up 48 per cent of the labour force. It is in everyone’s interests that technology geared towards dealing with women’s issues are encouraged. And not just by paying lip service at best, or being downright patronising at worst, making something in pink or sparkly purple so it will appeal to women. We need real, effective research and technology born from it.
Some companies have got the memo. Finnish company Oura has created a ring that measures everything from heart rate and blood oxygen to movement, interpreting the data into usable insights that can help you improve your health. It has developed an ovulation detection algorithm, a fertile window indicator for women and taken part in a research study that analyses biobehavioural changes during pregnancy.
Similarly, Whoop, Garmin, Apple and Samsung all offer cycle tracking for people who use their wearables.
Big companies are recognising the potential here, regardless of their motivation for doing so. It is now time for the Government and State agencies to put their money where their mouth is. As the report urges, invest in the 51 per cent. Women, and all of us, deserve better.
