by Yuki Shimizu, Executive Researcher

 

(The original article in Japanese was posted in October 2022)

 

Over the past few years, people’s awareness of the SDGs has rapidly increased, and relevant topics have frequently been reported on the news programs and in newspapers. At the same time, the trend of women’s empowerment is gaining momentum especially because of the interest in gender equality. Further, since the term “FemTech,” which had been already in use overseas, entered Japan, the trend of empowering women including eliminating the difficulties that women face in their lives and the thought of living your life as who you are, has been more widespread. Also, various products and services have been included in the framework of “FemTech” and gaining attention.

 

The New Market Beyond the FemTech Market

According to our market report “Female Care and FemTech Market (Consumer Goods & Services) 2022,” issued in September 2022, the female care and FemTech market in 2021 was estimated to be 64,297 million yen, increasing 107.7% from the previous year. Compared to the 103.9% year-on-year growth in the market size in 2020, it is obvious that the market is further expanding in 2021. This growing trend is expected to continue with a forecast of 109.0% in 2022.

Since around 2019, feminine hygiene products including period briefs has been leading the market growth in the service category, and major brands such as GU, UNIQLO, Peach John, 3COINS, and Aeon had entered the market one after another so far. Moreover, concerns and health issues specific to women, such as menopause care and sexual wellness, which have been considered as taboo in the past, are expected to become more obvious in the future. Accordingly, trends of items and services, which focus on these areas including intimate care products and online consultation services, are attracting attention.

Although many people recognize FemTech is “solutions that focus on female organs and life cycle phases and diseases specific to women,” activities to regard FemTech from a broader perspective and work on gender analysis from various viewpoints are gaining attention, triggered by the current growth of the FemTech market. These trends are called “Gendered Innovations.”

 

What is Gendered Innovations?

“Gendered innovations” is the creation of innovations by incorporating gender analysis into science, technology, and policy, to find new perspectives and directions. When it comes to gender differences, we tend to think of physiologic phenomena, symptoms, and diseases that only occur in females, such as menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, menopause, and gynecologic cancers. Although there are differences between men and women in the diseases that can affect both of them, as well as in the efficacy of drugs, these “gender differences” have barely been aware of in various studies to date. One of the reasons is that, since the researchers are predominantly men, various research and development has been unconsciously conducted based only on men, who are the same gender as the researchers.

For example, only male dummies had been used in crash tests for automobile seat belts, and resultantly, there used to be a high chance of serious injury to women and fetal mortality. In animal experiments and clinical trials to confirm the safety of drugs, men and males are often used as subjects in order to avoid risks of physical condition of women and females such as menstruation and pregnancy. However, in fact, it has been proven that some drugs have high health risks for women, and sometimes appropriate doses for adult men are not in accordance with those for adult women. In contrast, many people have a misconception that osteoporosis is a disease specific to women, but it has been found that, while symptoms appear to men only about 10 years later than women in age, one-third of hip fractures due to osteoporosis in those who are over 75 years old are men, and the mortality rate of men after the fractures is higher than that of women. Clinical trials on the prevention of bone fractures have previously excluded men, but this trend is now being revised.

The same applies to the COVID-19. It has been reported in many countries that, in the pandemic, the rate of severe symptoms and mortality after coronavirus infection is higher in men than in women, and adverse reactions after vaccination are seen more frequently in women than in men. These trends are considered to be because women have stronger immune responses to pathogens by nature, while men have more contributing factors such as obesity and chronic diseases including diabetes that can lead to severe illness, and smoking habits.

As mentioned above, “Gendered Innovations” is the concept of introducing a perspective of gender differences to things that had previously been based on men for better research and development. The core of the overseas FemTech market has already transformed from reproductive system, which are health issues only for women, to gender analysis. It is expected that such innovations will produce knowledge, technology, and services to enhance people’s awareness of gender and related issues and promote real gender equality.

 

Gendered Innovations is Changing Society

The aforementioned concept of Gendered Innovations is needed in every kind of industry, though it is particularly so in the medical and healthcare fields that are more likely to be directly associated with life. Here is an example that is more closely associated with our daily life. Running shoes are generally made to mold to foot shapes of men, but it has been reported that, ones designed and manufactured specifically for women by focusing on the difference between foot shapes of men and women led to a better fit for the user and enhance her performance. In addition, the increase in the number of men who do cooking created a wider variety of heights of kitchen countertops, which is also included in the concept of Gendered Innovations. Some brands that have been offering products for women such as incontinence pads and items to remove or fade age spots are now increasingly launching products with various sizes and functions tailored for men. The concept enables development of solutions suitable for each gender.

As mentioned above, Gendered Innovations has great potential to change society and make our lives more comfortable, convenient, and congenial, and creates new business opportunities for companies by differentiating them from other companies and encouraging their public relations from new perspectives. Also, such activities as a part of Gendered Innovations are supported by the government. I expect that it will rapidly spread in various industries in the future.