It is with deep gratitude that MenoMedico shares the stories of women of colour who have chosen to speak with Dr. Malhotra for the purpose of educating the global health care system, or who have published their words to inform us all of the work that remains to be done to better serve.
Please read these stories with humility and an understanding that each word is a gift—offered with heart, bravery, and kindness. We invite you to receive the words shared on this site with humble curiosity and with the shared goal of improving health care for all.
Truth:
“I believe I am in perimenopause right now and to be honest it’s lonely, overwhelming and ambiguous. Regardless of what you can read, being able to confide in a practitioner who genuinely cares and has time to validate you to help you to understand and point you in the right direction would be so appreciated but in this time and space I know it is a luxury that doesn’t exist. It is especially difficult for those who are estranged from their own family matriarchs, making the journey even more ambiguous and isolating. My matriarchs chose not to get the care they needed because they feared losing dignity and were ashamed to share their “feminine issues”. They died because they waited too long to talk about it. I am trying to break the cycle for me and the women in my life by encouraging and empowering them to access care, it’s their right to do so.“ Anon, a woman of Mixed Indigenous Ancestry.
What do we need to learn from this story?
Colonization and systemic racism have deeply shaped Indigenous women’s health in Canada. These forces continue to influence who and how people are heard, believed, and cared for in our health systems.
Indigenous Women’s Health
Colonization disrupted Indigenous ways of knowing, healing, and relating to the body. Traditional roles of women as knowledge keepers, birth workers, and healers were undermined, and the introduction of residential schools, forced sterilizations, and medical experimentation caused generations of trauma and distrust in healthcare. To improve care, providers must focus on Culturally safe care and everyone must focus on Culturally Safe relationships and interactions; this can be achieved by practicing cultural humility – facing bias systemically and personally.
What is needed?
First educating ourselves on the impacts of colonization
Next is being an Ally: Addressing these harms requires more than equity statements—it means centering Indigenous women in health research, policy, and leadership. It means investing in culturally grounded models of care, restoring trust through truth-telling, and dismantling the structures that continue to reproduce inequality.
Women’s health cannot be separated from the history and systems that shape it. Healing must be collective, courageous, and rooted in justice.