As we approach the year 2025, “we feel like we are starting to distinguish how biologically women are different from men after all,” said Oriana Papin-Zoghbi, co-founder and CEO of AOA Dx.
Ideally, that understanding would have already manifested. Although women of child-bearing age weren’t allowed to participate in clinical trials until 1993, the field of healthcare has had more than 30 years to make up for that exclusion and collect data on this half of the population. And yet, since women remain underrepresented in clinical trials, their health remains understudied and misunderstood. As a result, men are the default for everything from calculating drug doses to recognizing heart attack symptoms to designing and testing car safety features. And, despite their biological differences, women are reduced simply to “small men”.
However, in the new year, Ms. Papin-Zoghbi of AOA DX. And other innovators and investors in women’s fitness are hopeful about the dynamics of women’s fitness, possible inventions that recognize and serve women’s unique biological differences, and women’s ability to begin to perceive and manage their physical attention.
2025 won’t be without its challenges, though. Already, prior to any potential future restrictions on women’s health, women today face limited education around and access to (quality) healthcare. For example, only 46% of 1,000 surveyed women knew that genetic heredity cancer tests are available to understand their family risk of cancer (such as for breast and ovarian cancer, among others), 32% of U.S adults – men and women – are unsure whether emergency contraceptives are legal in their state (emergency contraceptives are legal in all states), and 21% of women aged 40 and over reported that they’ve never had a mammogram (mammograms are recommended at least every other year for women between the ages of 40 and 74).
But next year, Jamie Norwood, co-founder of Winx Health, predicts that accessibility, schooling and transparency will be “at the forefront of women’s fitness,” saying they “are more vital than ever with expanding development. ” national limitations and the general lack of physical care education for women. In the United States, 50% of counties do not have OB-GYNs, new regulations on reproductive fitness further limit access to care, and there is a huge school gap. cited Winx Health’s flexible sex education platform and other education efforts as resources “to empower women to make informed, self-confident fitness decisions,” agreed Katie Diasti, co-founder of Viv, and Laura McDonald, co-founder and CEO of Flora Fertility. that corporations can fill those gaps; Viv’s network turns to her “every day of the month to learn about and perceive their bodies in a world that fails to teach and improve the physical and reproductive condition of women,” while Viv’s fertility; Benefits Solution Flora is helping future generations “be more prepared to access [fertility and reproductive fitness policies. ” be careful], if you wish.
As Samantha Diamond, CEO and Co-Founder of Bird&Be, summarized: a trend in 2025 will be this access to “verified, medically-sound education to support women who are navigating care”: for menstruation, sexual education and health, fertility, and more.
But the regulations, restrictions, and rulings around reproductive health – a label that can include menstruation, sexual health, contraception, fertility, preconception, childbirth, postpartum, and menopause – are major causes for concern for women’s health consumers and advocates. Delphine O’Rourke, JD, healthcare lawyer and Lead Partner at Portfolia’s FemTech Fund, noted, “In the past two and half years since Dobbs [v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization], battles have been fought across the U.S. to further define – because Dobbs left the definition so unclear and wide open – reproductive care at the state and federal levels.”
Case in point: Six states have concluded their abortion litigation and 12 have pending lawsuits, according to KFF. Since the 2022 Dobbs resolution, 17 states have also voted on abortion. The public voted to maintain those rights in 14 states, adding red-leaning swing states like Arizona and Ohio and historically conservative states like Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Montana. The three states that did not vote to protect abortion access were Nebraska, South Dakota, and Florida (whose proposed amendment got 57% but required a 60% supermajority to be adopted).
Female fitness experts agree that reproductive fitness, which includes abortion, will be a challenge by 2025.
According to Ms. O’Rourke, Dobbs drew an “invisible line in the sand” that states are now testing, through their policies on abortion and otherwise. “Alabama tested [this line] with IVF and saw that it pushed too far…Mifepristone [the abortion pill] will be tested again, as will EMTALA [the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act], medical emergencies, IVF.” She continued, “We will continue to see this back and forth in the middle states – they are a testing ground for stakeholders to experiment with how far is too far in either direction.”
Among those “testing grounds,” there is some positive news: “The public’s priority is to protect their rights, those of their loved ones, and those of women around the world,” shared Cynthia Plotch, co-founder of Winx Health. Like O’Rourke predicts that reproductive fitness “will continue to be a primary domain of focus in the coming months and years,” but that, at the same time, women “are wise and astute and are temporarily moving to prepare for reproductive fitness. ” reproductive”. what they’re looking at when it comes to reproductive fitness through emergency contraception acquisition, childbirth and more. ” For Bird’s Ms. Diamond
Kian Sadeghi, CEO and founder of Nucleus, echoed this language when he said: “In the coming years, we expect to see continued investments in women’s fitness, as consumers become more concerned about their own fitness journeys, taking the wheel and driving their purchases. in their own fitness tracking: from testing to daily fitness tracking and more. “Winx Health’s Norwood called this ownership-ownership development a “movement,” while Halle Marchese, director of Nucleus, called it a “revolution. “She shared, “Women are used to not getting answers from doctors, or even not caring about their symptoms. “Next year we will see a revolution that will give strength back to women so that they no longer have to rely on a formula that has already failed them. She believes this “revolution” will manifest itself in at-home testing. for example through the products Oura, Evvy, Tiny Health, Everlywell and Nucleus.
These technologies and tests can provide much-needed insights into women because, as Ms. Papin-Zoghbi summarized, “knowledge about women is imperative to advancing the field and conducting meaningful research. ” Lindsey Calcutt, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Incora Health, agreed that technologies, such as at-home tests and wearable devices designed for women, can not only offer “more personalized and applicable fitness insights,” but which can also be “functional”. ” and “beautiful”, like the wise earrings from Incora Health. But she warned consumers who oppose technologies that are still reserved for men: “Beware of bad ideas,” she warned, “technology that is not especially designed for women and is designed “by default for men would possibly provide poor, or even dangerous, recommendations for women. ” Fitness trackers are a type of wearable device that can potentially be “grossly inaccurate” for women because the center frequency A woman’s rest time adjusts her menstrual cycle. Dr. Calcutt explained: “When wearable devices don’t make a difference, they can cause women to overexert themselves during exercise. their training. »
Likewise, consumers will need to be aware of how their knowledge is used. Some companies, according to Papin-Zoghbi of AoA DX. , have “strong legal frameworks, transparent practices and transparent communication” about the use of knowledge, while others do not. For both women’s fitness companies and consumers, emphasis should be placed on “finding ways to actively contribute to studies, being aware of how knowledge is processed. “
In short, 2025 marks a “turning point” for the generation, said Offer Yehudai, CEO and co-founder of Arya. He said: “Over the last five years, we have noticed generation being used as a tool for investing in almost each and every country. ” every facet of our well-being: from learning new skills, to our sleep, to tracking our health. . . Over the next year, we will see more generations infiltrate our lives, and we are at a crucial time to dictate how this will be implemented “
While this technology and the data it provides can fill gaps in understanding women’s health, it is not the only valuable source of information for women; they can also support improvements in their own healthcare by speaking out about their health in the first place. Conditions like infertility, menopause, osteoporosis, and painful periods are common among women; infertility affects one in six couples, menopause affects all menstruating women, more than eight million American women have osteoporosis, and around 80% of women experience painful periods at some point in their lives. And yet, those conditions remain shameful: a societal silence that hinders the public’s understanding of just how common they are. For a quantified example, 15-20% of confirmed pregnancies end in miscarriage, but a national survey found that 55% of people, both men and women, believe that miscarriages occur in only 5% or fewer of all pregnancies.
While most survey responders correctly knew that a genetic or medical problem was the most common … [+] cause of pregnancy loss, they also had several misconceptions about miscarriages, such as stress, lifting heavy objects, a past sexually transmitted infection, past use of an IUD, past use of oral contraception, or an argument might also cause miscarriages.
The “movement” (to use the words of Ms. Norwood from Winx) and the “Revolution” (to use the words of Ms. Marchese from Nucleus) describe the same phenomenon: women triumph over all misfortune and speak of their health problems. A recent manifestation of this trend is Naomi Watts, who CNN identified as one of the “risk takers” for 2024, because she was afraid of her own reports on menopause, and still did it. She did not escape the old stigmatization related to menopause that keeps her and other women in silence, suffering and without mandatory care.
And this change is not necessarily dependent on the federal government and the new administration, which will likely move away from the unprecedented support for women’s health that the Biden Administration has shown: from November 2023 and the launch of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research to December 2024 and the White House Conference on Women’s Health Research. Marissa Fayer, MBA, CEO of DeepLook Medical, was an attendee at the White House Conference and knows the change in administration “is a concern for all of us”. But she has faith that “women and women’s health will persevere irrespective of politics” since women’s healthcare is “not discerning of political choice”. Rather, women “will continue to develop cancer, endometriosis, and other diseases that affect us, regardless of who is in office.
Arianne Kidder, partner of Seae Ventures, believes that these demanding situations can promote growth, opportunities and perseverance, only through the personal sector and not of the public. When restrictions restrict access, ”he said,“ virtual or telephoneness facilities grow. For some companies, there has been an inverse relationship between states that implement policies backwards and impulse in innovation. ” In other words, in 2025 the personal sector could be leading innovation in women’s fitness or, as Mrs. Fayer says, “it will have and will have to continue [their] work, regardless of administration. “
Private investment in women’s fitness is already rising: Nucleus’ Sadeghi said: “Venture-funded investments in women’s fitness are growing, showing 5% year-on-year expansion in 2023Array despite an overall decline in investing in fitness care. of just about 10 billion dollars. ” He noted that Nucleus is seeing this traction with month-over-month expansion and more than $18 million in investments. Meanwhile, according to PitchBook Data, VC-backed corporations classified as “female fitness,” “female fitness,” or “femtech” saw a buildup from 52 deals and $359 million raised collectively in 2015 to 108 deals and $1. 25 billion. of dollars raised jointly. away in 2024.
Since 2015, the number of women’s fitness deals and capital invested in women’s fitness have increased, according to PitchBook Data. Data as of December 25, 2024.
Christy Lane, MD, co-founder and president of Flora Fertility, called it “critical” to continue investing in women “to drive new research, innovations and more that meet the transformative demands of women today. ” Sadeghi believes this investment is not only imperative but imminent, predicting that the coming years will bring “continued investments in women’s fitness. ” Similarly, Alice Zheng, MD, MBA, MPH, wife of Foreground Capital, says that the women’s fitness sector “will continue to drive investment and awareness” and that “regulations at the state level will be more vital [now than in the past] when it comes to reproductive fitness,” and that the country will see “opportunities within the personal sector given regulatory adjustments (e. g. , over-the-counter contraceptives). “
These fitness-savvy women also defined some of the other trends they hope to see in 2025.
To seize these “opportunities,” innovators, investors and consumers will have to act. In the words of Ms. Fayer of DeepLook Medical: “As innovators, we will have to innovate. As investors, we will have to help the spaces that affect us personally as women and the spaces that fear us. As consumers, we want to invest our money in products, technologies and corporations that align with our values. ” Dr. Lane of Flora Fertility agrees that cash talks, saying, “As advocates, consumers, and business owners, our cash matters. And Winx’s Ms. Norwood believes that consumers of women’s fitness products can use their influence to “drive innovation through greater access to essential physical care for women, reinforcing the importance of education and fighting misinformation. ” And the resulting increases in access, schooling, innovation and investment will not only benefit women; but they can also have a domino effect. As Mr. Yehudai of Arya explains: “When women are happy, so is the economy, society and our fitness. a country improve. »
For AOA Dx. ‘s Papin-Zoghbi, women’s fitness “should be a priority for anyone who cares about women’s well-being. ” But this organization will have to come with the women themselves. Incora’s Calcutt hopes that in the new year women’s perspectives will change so that they “really start prioritizing their fitness. ” For too long, women have put their desire to be fit (whether juggling careers, families, children, etc. ) to their own detriment. By 2025, he said, “this has to replace. ”
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