Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women’s Health
By Sophie Harman
Virago Books, 2024

Harman’s Sick of It is an important examination of inequalities in healthcare for women across the world. It demonstrates how women’s health is simultaneously sidelined and mobilised as a tool for political gain, and the devastating consequences of this globally. The book not only outlines the problems shaping women’s (lack of) healthcare in an accessible manner, but it also provides readers with practical advice on how to address health inequalities. These are no small feats. The strength of the book lies precisely in the fact that it is insightful not just for academics, policymakers, and practitioners but for anyone interested in global health and women’s health. Indeed, the Epilogue, which includes advice on how to foster health equality, begins by outlining the “easy stuff” readers can do (p. 248) before moving to more complex challenges like how to “rethink foreign aid” (p. 266). So, whether you’re a casual reader with little background in global health or a gender and health advisor at a major NGO or government body, Sick of It will likely provide valuable insights.

The core puzzle at the heart of the book is how, despite the growing wealth of resources and attention invested in women’s health, women continue to have worse health outcomes and are notably disadvantaged in healthcare contexts. Harman highlights, “[w]omen die when they don’t have to, not because of a lack of attention, science or evidence […] but because of the exploitation of women’s health as a means of attaining and sustaining power in the world” (p. 5). She demonstrates how women’s health inequalities are deeply connected to global inequalities, such as racial inequalities. Hence, Sick of It is as much about the fight for women’s rights globally as it is about women’s access to healthcare.

Drawing on interviews, observations, and her years of expertise working on global health and gender, Harman outlines the challenges shaping women’s (lack of) access to healthcare. She explores various challenges, such as the genocide in Gaza and the related choking of healthcare facilities by Israeli authorities (Chapter 4), the repeal of abortion rights (Chapter 3 and........

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