The Pain Gap: How Sexism and Racism in Healthcare Kill Women

Written by Anushay Hossain

Narrated by Priya Ayyar

Explore real women’s tales of healthcare trauma and medical misogyny with this “masterfully written” (Sophia A. Nelson, bestselling author of The Woman Code and Black Woman Redefined), meticulously researched, in-depth examination of the women’s health crisis in America—and what we can do about it.

When Anushay Hossain became pregnant in the US, she was so relieved. Growing up in Bangladesh in the 1980s, where the concept of women’s healthcare hardly existed, she understood how lucky she was to access the best in the world. But she couldn’t have been more wrong. Things started to go awry from the minute she stepped into the hospital, and after thirty hours of labor (two of which she spent pushing), Hossain’s epidural slipped. Her pain was so severe that she ran a fever of 104 degrees, and as she shook and trembled uncontrollably, the doctors finally performed an emergency C-section.

Giving birth in the richest country on earth, Hossain never imagined she could die in labor. But she almost did. The experience put her on a journey to explore, understand, and share how women—especially women of color—are dismissed to death by systemic sexism in American healthcare.

Following in the footsteps of feminist manifestos such as The Feminine Mystique and Rage Becomes Her, The Pain Gap is an “eye-opening” (Christy Turlington Burns, founder of Every Mother Counts) and stirring call to arms that encourages women to flip their “hysteria complex” on its head and use it to revolutionize women’s healthcare. This book tells the story of Hossain’s experiences—from growing up in South Asia surrounded by staggering maternal mortality rates to lobbying for global health legislation on Capitol Hill to nearly becoming a statistic herself. Along the way, she realized that a little fury might be just what the doctor ordered.

Meticulously researched and deeply reported, this “must-read” (Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her) book explores real women’s traumatic experiences with America’s healthcare system—and empowers everyone to use their experiences to bring about the healthcare revolution women need.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Oct 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781797134703

Anushay Hossain

Anushay Hossain is a writer and a feminist policy analyst focusing on women’s health legislation. She is a regular on-air guest at CNN, MSNBC, and PBS, and her writing on politics, gender, and race has been published in Forbes, CNN, USA TODAY, The Daily Beast, and Medium. Hossain is also the host of the Spilling Chai podcast. The Pain Gap is her first book.

Reviews for The Pain Gap

[Aleksandar Lukic · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Includes some great studies and provides a sad but well documented angle on the discrimination women, especially non-white, face daily in medical care. I have yo deduct some stars on the gloryfication of and spin on capitalisme and lobyism as the solution. The main goal of the book is to empower women to "reclaim hysteria", i.e. to speak up about personal experiences and trauma with medical care.

[Renee Delcourt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Definitely not an easy read but its definitely an important one.

[MARGARET Westendorf · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wish the title had not been so misleading- this book is mostly about childbirth and prenatal care and mortality rates in the US. It was still great, but not the book the title and the synopsis lead me to believe it was.

[Courtney Sams · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Primarily regarding the COVID-19 impacts on woman and people of color, especially in maternity situations. Given the large focus on COVID and legislation that has since been decided upon, this book became quickly dated.

[jdtcntgbjs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good initial overview on birthing experiences & issues that women face from medical community due to sexism (and racism for black womenswear). The author does a great job explaining some of the issues Women face when when giving birth and are not listened to by physicians. However, I wish the author spent time explaining some of the reasons pregnant women are left out of vaccine studies such as fear of lawsuits and bad publicity or whatever they may be. As it is the picture painted seems uncomplicated which is far from the reality.

[Luke Giaccone · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Women and healthcare professionals in America should have this book on their "must read" list

[Arnis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very powerful and saddening text. However the speech seemed to be somewhat robotic sounding, so can't give it full 5 stars.