Why is neurodiversity a gender inequality issue?

We are learning at a startling and shocking rate that neurodiversity is a gender inequality issue. With 75% of women in the UK undiagnosed and research coming in thick and fast, we’re waking up to the fact that neurodiversity is not only a leadership issue but a gender issue as well. 

The Women’s Institute is doing something about it…

I had the honour and pleasure to listen to Emma Holland-Lindsay, the Head of Public Affairs for the National Federation of the Women’s Institute who came to the National Neurodiversity Conference held by the ADHD Foundation on Friday the 24th of June.

The neurodiversity/gender link is so apparent that the largest women’s organisation in the UK, the Women’s Institute, has passed the following resolution in June: Women and Girls with ASD & ADHD – under-identified, under-diagnosed, misdiagnosed, under-supported.

What is the Women’s Institute?

• It has over 190,000 members.
  
• They’ve just had their 107th birthday! 
• They started in World War I in 1915. 
• The WI understands that Women are agents of change within their communities, and they need a place to be themselves. 
• The WI is about building a better society for women and their communities. 
• They have a democratic approach to campaigning for gender equality – every WI member can bring a concern to the group.

During this incredibly inspirational speech, Emma Holland-Lindsay gave us the most enlightening bit of news!
She said, this year the most popular campaign resolution, which received 22,683 votes, was to support and advocate for women and girls with neurodiversity.

The resolution is this:

Neurodiversity is a gender inequality issue.

• Girls and women are under pressure to conform in a male-dominated neurotypical space.
• The exhaustion we feel when we don’t fit in. 
• Masking who we truly are.
• Women are waiting years to get diagnosed. 
• We are seeking self-acceptance and diagnosis.
• Coming to terms with the trauma & missed opportunities in our past. 
• ADHD & autism are seen as male conditions and women are being left behind. 

The women’s institute is all about an accepting and supportive space for women to be themselves. Truly, I’m blown away that the resolution has been called for women with neurodiverse conditions.

So, the Women’s Insitute is calling for a series of actions, and they seriously mean business.  

We need is a safe and friendly space to share and have companionship.

Lives change, one conversation at a time.

When we find ourselves, we find each other.