The Pain Gap, Anushay Hossain
The Pain Gap, Anushay Hossain
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The Pain Gap
How Sexism and Racism in Healthcare Kill Women

Author: Anushay Hossain

Narrator: Priya Ayyar

Unabridged: 6 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/26/2021


Synopsis

Explore real women’s tales of healthcare trauma and medical misogyny with this “masterfully written” (Sophia A. Nelson, bestselling author of The Woman Code and Black Woman Redefined), meticulously researched, in-depth examination of the women’s health crisis in America—and what we can do about it.

When Anushay Hossain became pregnant in the US, she was so relieved. Growing up in Bangladesh in the 1980s, where the concept of women’s healthcare hardly existed, she understood how lucky she was to access the best in the world. But she couldn’t have been more wrong. Things started to go awry from the minute she stepped into the hospital, and after thirty hours of labor (two of which she spent pushing), Hossain’s epidural slipped. Her pain was so severe that she ran a fever of 104 degrees, and as she shook and trembled uncontrollably, the doctors finally performed an emergency C-section.

Giving birth in the richest country on earth, Hossain never imagined she could die in labor. But she almost did. The experience put her on a journey to explore, understand, and share how women—especially women of color—are dismissed to death by systemic sexism in American healthcare.

Following in the footsteps of feminist manifestos such as The Feminine Mystique and Rage Becomes Her, The Pain Gap is an “eye-opening” (Christy Turlington Burns, founder of Every Mother Counts) and stirring call to arms that encourages women to flip their “hysteria complex” on its head and use it to revolutionize women’s healthcare. This book tells the story of Hossain’s experiences—from growing up in South Asia surrounded by staggering maternal mortality rates to lobbying for global health legislation on Capitol Hill to nearly becoming a statistic herself. Along the way, she realized that a little fury might be just what the doctor ordered.

Meticulously researched and deeply reported, this “must-read” (Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her) book explores real women’s traumatic experiences with America’s healthcare system—and empowers everyone to use their experiences to bring about the healthcare revolution women need.

About Anushay Hossain

Anushay Hossain is a writer and a feminist policy analyst focusing on women’s health legislation. She is a regular on-air guest at CNN, MSNBC, and PBS, and her writing on politics, gender, and race has been published in Forbes, CNN, USA TODAY, The Daily Beast, and Medium. Hossain is also the host of the Spilling Chai podcast. The Pain Gap is her first book.


Reviews

Interesting read but the description is completely misleading. The Pain Gap by Anushay Hossain covers a wide range of traditional women's rights issues: abortion, childbirth, paid leave, women and pregnant women being excluded during vaccine testing, domestic violence, and unfair child rearing respon......more

Goodreads review by Emily

A very important and broad topic but I feel like the book barely scrapes the surface. Well written/good audiobook, still worth a read!......more

This book starts off pretty strong and unfortunately devolves. I think one of the issues with this book is that it’s marketed incorrectly. The majority of this book is centered on the COVID-19 pandemic, and feels almost TOO current. While the information in this book is definitely worth acknowledgin......more

Goodreads review by Sahitya

This was another audiobook I picked at random while browsing my library catalog but it instantly felt like it was something I’ll like reading. And it was an interesting mix. I absolutely loved reading the personal stories - both of the author and her mom back in Bangladesh and the conditions of heal......more

Goodreads review by Mariana

(3.25) A good read, with smart points, arguments and statistics that I wasn’t familiar with before. Good approach to the intersectionality of racism, sexism and ableism. However, I’d highlight the feminism as the more prominent voice. Didn’t know it would focus so much on covid-19, but makes sense th......more