The illusion of empowerment: commercializing women’s health in the digital age
Brooke Nickel, Tessa Copp, Barbara Mintzes · 2026
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Description
Brooke Nickel, Tessa Copp, and Barbara Mintzes examine how digital health products for women are sold as empowerment. Women's health has long been underfunded and poorly studied. New apps and tests promise to close that gap. The authors argue that the promise often serves profit more than women.
The piece works through four case studies. They include cycle tracking apps and other direct-to-consumer products. In each case, real unmet needs became a market chance. The authors say this shifts duty for care from health systems onto each woman alone. They do not reject new tools, which many women value. Their concern is how the tools are framed and marketed, and what that framing hides.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Brooke Nickel, Tessa Copp, Barbara Mintzes |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 16 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |