ENDOMETRIOSIS & BLACK WOMEN
THE PAIN IS REAL.
SO IS THE INEQUITY.
Black women living with endometriosis tirelessly carry the burden of the disease while navigating a healthcare system where bias, dismissal, and unequal access can shape whether their humanness is recognized, their voices are heard, and their pain is believed, investigated, and treated.
WHEN ENDOMETRIOSIS IN BLACK WOMEN IS COMPLICATED BY BIAS
BEING IN PAIN IS ONE THING.
HAVING TO PROVE IT IS ANOTHER.
For Black women, getting answers can mean navigating more than the symptoms of endometriosis. Racial bias and long-standing misconceptions about who gets the disease can influence whose pain is recognized, whose symptoms are investigated, and who reaches appropriate care. The result is a healthcare experience where being in pain may also mean fighting to be believed.
BLACK WOMEN WERE NEVER ABSENT.
THEY WERE TOO OFTEN OVERLOOKED.
1976
In a study of 190 Black women undergoing laparoscopy, endometriosis was found in 21% of participants. Many had previously been clinically diagnosed and treated for pelvic inflammatory disease. The study challenged the prevailing belief that endometriosis was rare among Black women.
THE EVIDENCE WAS THERE. THE ASSUMPTION PERSISTED.
THE CALENDAR CHANGED.
THE INEQUITY DIDN'T DISAPPEAR.
CARE
RESEARCH
Black women continue to encounter disparities in how endometriosis and pelvic pain care is accessed. In recent research, Black women were referred to pelvic-pain physician specialists at lower rates than White women.
Black women remain underrepresented in the evidence used to understand endometriosis. In a recent review of 648 endometriosis studies, only 10% reported participants’ race or ethnicity — leaving major gaps in what we know about who is being studied and whose experiences are reflected in the research.
Research has found that Black women with endometriosis can experience worse clinical and surgical outcomes. These disparities do not point to race as the cause — they reflect the broader conditions in which care is received, including differences in access, diagnosis, treatment, and the social and structural barriers surrounding healthcare.
OUTCOMES
WHAT EQUITABLE CARE SHOULD LOOK LIKE
Equitable care begins when Black women are treated as whole human beings — believed when they describe their pain, listened to without assumptions, given access to appropriate evaluation and treatment, and included in decisions about their own bodies.