“$350 million in research focused on women could yield $14 billion in economic returns. Doubling investment in women-focused research for coronary artery disease alone could save nearly $2 billion in healthcare costs. Closing the 25% gap in women’s health outcomes could add at least $1 trillion to annual global GDP by 2040, generating a $3 return in economic growth for every $1 invested.”
— From “The WHAM Report: The Business Case for Accelerating Women’s Health Investment”, presented at this year’s JPM Healthcare Conference in San Francisco
“Women spend 25% more of their lives in poor health compared to men… boosting data availability, care delivery, investment, and treatment… . Better health for women throughout their lives could create at least $1 trillion in annual incremental economic growth by 2040.”
— From the January report “ by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in collaboration with the McKinsey Health Institute
Why Aren’t We Doing More?
Historically, women’s health has been overlooked and underfunded—systemically sidelined in research budgets, medical education, and the investor community. As a result, huge segments of the healthcare market remain untapped, despite massive potential returns.
But momentum is shifting. A new class of forward-thinking investors and emerging startups is recognizing that investing in women’s health is not only a moral imperative but also an undeniable growth opportunity.
With the U.S. government’s recent moves to downsize USAID—the world’s largest bilateral aid agency—and its withdrawal from the WHO, a funding vacuum has emerged. For the private sector, this presents a unique moment to catalyze healthcare innovation while unlocking substantial financial rewards.
The Health Gap: A Persistent Problem with High Stakes
The health disparity between men and women starts early and compounds over a lifetime. Conditions like endometriosis (affecting 1 in 10 women), autoimmune disorders, and other female-specific or female-predominant diseases are underdiagnosed and undertreated. Clinical research has routinely excluded women or failed to segment findings by sex, leading to significant blind spots in treatment paradigms.
These blind spots aren’t just a women’s issue — they also carry a real economic cost. When 50% of the population is underserved, entire economies suffer from lower productivity, lost earnings, and higher healthcare expenditures. Women comprise a significant share of the global workforce and often manage household healthcare decisions, wielding outsized influence on consumer spending. Unaddressed health issues reverberate across families, workplaces, and societies at large.
A Colossal Economic Opportunity
A major revelation from the WEF/McKinsey “Blueprint to Close the Women’s Health Gap” is that comprehensive action could yield $400 billion in annual GDP, and $1 trillion in annual incremental economic growth by 2040. This figure is grounded in rigorous analysis of how enhanced women’s healthcare can reduce productivity losses, curb healthcare costs, and unleash a healthier female workforce.
What Drives These Gains?
- Data Availability
- Robust, sex-specific data improves disease detection and treatment, lowering long-term healthcare costs.
- More accurate data paves the way for personalized therapies, reducing complications and expensive hospitalizations.
- Care Delivery
- Preventive care, mental health support, and specialized maternal health or menopause services can mitigate chronic conditions and boost workforce participation.
- Telehealth and digital platforms break down barriers to access, especially in rural or underserved areas—expanding markets while reducing delivery costs.
- Treatment Paradigms
- Targeted drug therapies and medical devices designed for women’s physiology translate into better outcomes and lower overall costs.
- Inclusive research spurs innovation that can outperform one-size-fits-all solutions, opening up new revenue streams.
- Investment
- The “femtech” sector still receives just a fraction of total healthcare venture funding — yet demand for these solutions is enormous and growing.
- Early movers investing in women’s health can secure high ROI in a less crowded market, benefiting from stable growth curves and strong consumer loyalty.
By aligning these four levers, governments and private investors can drive a win-win scenario: improved health outcomes for women and significant economic value creation.
An Inflection Point: Women’s Health Venture Funding Projected to Reach $66B by 2033
This year, for the first time ever, at the JPM Healthcare Conference, the world’s largest healthcare investing conference that takes place in San Francisco every January, “The WHAM Report: The Business Case for Accelerating Women’s Health Investment” was released, revealing a better-late-than-never paradigm shift in women’s healthcare. The WHAM report makes a compelling dual argument: that investing in women’s health is both a moral obligation and a smart economic strategy.
By correcting historical underinvestment and integrating sex-specific research, stakeholders can unlock substantial returns in health outcomes, economic productivity, and overall societal well-being.
The WHAM report estimates:
- Investing $350 million in research on women’s health could yield $14 billion in economic returns.
- Doubling investment in research on coronary artery disease in women alone could save nearly $2 billion .
- Closing the 25% gap in women’s health outcomes could add at least $1 trillion to annual global GDP by 2040 — a $3 return in economic growth for every $1 invested.
This year, for the first time ever, at the JPM Healthcare Conference, the world’s largest healthcare … [+]
Investments in women’s health grew by 300% between 2018 and 2023 to $41.3B, and are projected to reach $66B by 2033 – indicating tremendous opportunity. Of the $41.2 billion directed toward health sector investments across 1,787 deals, only 2% focused on women’s health, and a mere 3% of digital health VC funding supported women’s health startups. There have been 35 successful exits in the past five years, including four IPOs and 31 mergers or acquisitions, proving the sector’s viability for high returns.
The frontier for women’s health opportunities remains relatively under-explored and untapped – creating opportunity for smart investors. In December, supported by BCG’s expert Center for Customer Insights, a global BCG X survey found that in key segments such as consumer goods, health care, and financial services, women do not believe that the products and services available to them readily meet their needs. Among a dozen product/service categories, BCG identified healthcare as the area where women’s needs are served most poorly. The report further finds that women manage $32 trillion in global spending and are projected to control 75% of discretionary spending – enormous unexploited potential.
In December, supported by BCG’s expert Center for Customer Insights, a global BCG X survey of … [+]
Still, female-led startups often struggle to secure funding, partly due to investor unfamiliarity with women’s health issues. Forward-thinking VCs, however, see the opportunity beyond these hurdles.
- The colossal opportunity in women’s health ranges from from fertility technology and maternal health solutions to digital platforms addressing menopause or women’s mental health.
- Brands and healthcare providers that design solutions specifically around women’s needs can gain long-term loyalty and advocacy from a demographic that heavily influences household healthcare spending.
- Early adopters of tech-enabled approaches (e.g., telehealth platforms, wearable devices calibrated for female biomarkers) have a chance to reshape the market and establish leadership.
- Furthermore, Products addressing core health needs — and benefiting from early patient adoption—often enjoy low churn and long-term scalability.
As more capital flows into women’s health, an innovation flywheel emerges: new startups lead to improved care, which bolsters consumer trust, fueling further investment. Over time, this ecosystem reaches critical mass, solidifying women’s health as a mainstream investment category with strong returns.
Global Perspectives: Building a Worldwide Movement
While the U.S. femtech scene is garnering attention, this is a global issue requiring global solutions.
From advanced economies to emerging growth markets, women’s health transcends geographic and socioeconomic boundaries. Though higher end products such as fertility treatments might not be accessible to consumers in every country, companies that innovate in preventive care, chronic disease management, reproductive and maternal health, and holistic wellness can tap into a robust and expanding market.
In parallel, policy and business leadership can foster this shift:
- Government leadership: Incentives should mandate sex-specific data in clinical trials and support women-centered research.
- Corporate & Employer Engagement: Large employers are beginning to realize the business case for comprehensive women’s health benefits—improving retention, reducing absenteeism, and enhancing overall productivity. We are seeing these trends, for example, in Bangladesh, where large garment factories are increasingly offering on site healthcare services for their workforces, which are largely female.
Cross-border collaborations can accelerate best practices and distribute solutions more widely. By layering policy reform, philanthropic engagement, and private capital, we can fuel systemic change that unlocks substantial economic gains.
Practical Steps to Close the Gap
- Increase Funding
- Expand venture capital and impact investment dedicated to women-led or women-focused healthcare businesses.
- Strengthen Research & Data
- Invest in clinical studies targeting women’s conditions and disease presentations.
- Demand open-source, sex-disaggregated data to drive more accurate diagnoses.
- Promote Inclusive Policy
- Incentivize gender-sensitive guidelines in medical training, insurance coverage, and regulatory approvals.
- Increase women’s leadership to champion these initiatives.
- Elevate Awareness
- Destigmatize conversations about menstruation, menopause, and other taboo topics through public campaigns.
- Partner with influencers and media to increase literacy around women’s health and its economic implications.
A Collective Imperative with High Returns
Investing in women’s health goes far beyond altruism; it’s an indispensable strategy for building a more resilient, equitable, and prosperous world. The latest WEF/McKinsey blueprint underscores that closing the women’s health gap could unlock nearly $400 billion in annual economic benefits by 2040, alongside enormous social dividends.
Further, as the JPM Healthcare report concluded, investing in women’s health is both a moral obligation and a smart economic strategy. Women’s health investments are projected to reach $66B by 2033.
The spillover benefits of improved women’s health—such as better outcomes for children, fewer caregiving burdens, and less strain on public resources—translate into broader societal gains. Healthier women translate to healthier families, more productive workforces, and stronger economies. It means fewer healthcare costs over the long term, better educational outcomes for children, and greater stability for entire societies. Fundamentally, it means giving half the world’s population the healthcare attention it deserves—while delivering robust financial returns for those poised to seize the opportunity.
Now is the time for savvy investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers to step up. As public funding vacillates and new challenges emerge, private-sector leadership can fill the gap, catalyzing breakthroughs with lasting impact. By placing women’s health at the forefront of investment strategies, we create a virtuous cycle: fueling innovation that meets urgent medical needs, driving economic growth, and improving quality of life around the globe.
The Bottom Line
Women’s health remains one of the most underinvested frontiers in healthcare—a space where capital can unlock disproportionate returns while addressing an indisputable moral obligation. Given the market’s size, growth potential, and transformative societal impact, there’s never been a better moment to invest in women’s health.
