Britain’s socialised healthcare system has reportedly removed the word ‘woman’ from an online advice page for those suffering from the effects of menopause.
Despite demands from the government’s health secretary to avoid the use of woke gendered language, the National Health Service (NHS) apparently saw fit to remove references to women on its online health advice page for women going experiencing the often painful effects of the conclusion of female menstrual cycles, known as menopause.
While the webpage previously contained several mentions of women, it was updated on May 17th with references to females scrubbed in lieu of gender-neutral language, according to a report from the Daily Mail.
For example, the initial entry for menopause described it as the time “when a woman stops having periods and is no longer able to get pregnant naturally,” while the woke updated version states: “Menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels.”
The previous advice also noted that menopause typically happens to women between the ages of 45 and 55, though one per cent of women experience the effects prior to 40. This section was reportedly scrubbed entirely from the advice page.
The paper claimed that the first mention of women was on a page two clicks deep in the advice portal in a section discussing drug therapies for the ill effects experienced by some women during the phase such as hot flashes, depression, and brain fog.
A spokesman for NHS Digital, which operates the online medical advice site, said that the goal was to make the page “inclusive” for everyone.
“The NHS website provides information for everyone. We keep the pages under continual review to ensure they use language that is inclusive, respectful and relevant to the people reading it.”
Following the release of the report, Health Secretary Sajid Javid criticised the NHS and demanded that the web page be amended to reflect that menopause is indeed a condition experienced only by women.
“Language matters. I have made clear that the word ‘woman’ should not be removed from key women’s health pages,” Javid said.
“I have been assured that the changes highlighted below, as well as others, are being reversed,” the health secretary added.
The country’s socialised healthcare system has previously been found to have adopted so-called gender-free language on its health advice site, removing references to women for the pages concerning female-only cancers such as ovarian, womb, and cervical.
Following the initial reporting on the woke changes to the website, Health Secretary Javid condemned the move, arguing that it is important to use “common sense” and use the correct language in order to ensure that patients receive the “best possible care”.
“You won’t be surprised to know that, as the Health Secretary, I think that your sex matters, your biological sex is incredibly important to make sure you get the right treatment, the very best treatment,” he said.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka