Objective: This literature review provides an overview of historical factors rooted in gender roles and institutional biases that have contributed to disparities in movement disorder care for women.

Background: Institutional initiatives to reduce sex and gender disparities, such as those of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (1), have yielded a more robust understanding of how sex and gender factors shape the lived experience of patients with movement disorders. These include differences in motor symptoms (2), responses to medications and other interventions (3, 4), health behaviours and engagement (5), and mental health and coping (6, 7). Despite this, women continue to experience disparities often rooted in social contexts. Understanding the historical factors surrounding women’s movement disorder care and intersections with healthcare systems may help contextualize current disparities.

Method: A literature review was conducted using PubMed, EMBASE, and Google Scholar to identify literature pertaining to historical disparities experienced by women living with PD, tremor, and dystonia. Key terms such as “Parkinson’s disease”, “tremor”, “dystonia”, “sex”, “gender” and “disparities”. Published and grey literature were included, and the search included all study types. Key findings were synthesized using a narrative approach.

Results: Preliminary results from the identified literature converge around two central points. First, historical clinical judgment significantly contributed to stigmatizing or prejudiced attitudes towards women seeking medical treatment for their movement disorder. For example, a gendered misinterpretation of symptoms was common in clinical practice, in which movement disorders in women were considered “hysterical” or psychogenic in their etiology. Second, recognition of female-specific patterns and symptoms of movement disorders may go underappreciated due to systemic marginalization and exclusion of women from clinical research surrounding movement disorders. This has contributed to a lack of understanding of female and women-specific disease courses and experiences, which may in part explain referral biases or diagnostic delays observed in modern women with movement disorders (8).

Conclusion: Historical marginalization of women with movement disorders must be considered when understanding current disparities in access to care.

References: 1. Research CIoH. What is gender? What is sex? 2023.
2. Meoni S, Macerollo A, Moro E. Sex differences in movement disorders. Nature Reviews Neurology. 2020;16(2):84-96.
3. Hendriks M, Vinke RS, Georgiev D. Gender discrepancies and differences in motor and non-motor symptoms, cognition, and psychological outcomes in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease with subthalamic deep brain stimulation. Frontiers in Neurology. 2024;Volume 14 – 2023.
4. Pellecchia MT, Picillo M, Russillo MC, Amboni M, Arabia G, Avanzino L, et al. Gender Is the Main Predictor of Wearing-Off and Dyskinesia in Levodopa-Naïve Patients with Parkinson’s Disease. Movement Disorders Clinical Practice. 2025;12(11):1774-83.
5. Fullard ME, Dafoe A, Shelton E, Kern DS, Matlock DD, Morris MA. How Women and Men with Parkinson’s Disease Approach Decision-Making for Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery. Movement Disorders Clinical Practice. 2025;12(4):453-63.
6. Subramanian I, Mathur S, Oosterbaan A, Flanagan R, Keener AM, Moro E. Unmet Needs of Women Living with Parkinson’s Disease: Gaps and Controversies. Mov Disord. 2022;37(3):444-55.
7. Kuiper RB, Geraedts VJ, van der Gaag NA, Hoffmann CFE, Lauwen E, Zutt R, et al. Coping Behavior in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease Prior to Subthalamic Deep Brain Stimulation and Association with Psychiatric Symptoms, Quality of Life and Neuropsychological Status. Movement Disorders Clinical Practice. 2026;n/a(n/a).
8. Saunders-Pullman R, Wang C, Stanley K, Bressman SB. Diagnosis and Referral Delay in Women With Parkinson’s Disease. Gender Medicine. 2011;8(3):209-17.

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