Het collectief geheugen van de geneeskunde

In this article, we explore how the gender health gap has developed from a cultural-historical perspective, through the lens of a general practitioner, health scientist and medical historian. We describe the application of the concept of ‘the collective memory’ to medicine as a discipline, and show how it shapes medicine’s identity. Awareness of the collective memory reveals underlying biases and could result in a sustainable and systematic change in medicine that ultimately improves the health of both women and men. When physicians critically examine the past in collaboration with historians, room to reflect on current practices is created. Why do we think the way we think, and act the way we act? This collaborative examination of the past allows us to understand the roots of the gender health gap and to work towards increasingly gender-sensitive medicine.

Conflict of interest and financial support: ICMJE forms provided by the authors are available online along with the full text of this article.