Go back in time a mere hundred years and the idea of sexual equality would have been considered a joke in rather bad taste. For centuries, men around the world have been the dominant gender with all the more powerful roles in society. There were odd signs of change. Women were given the vote and allowed to own their own property but, when it came to life in general, they were there to be married off and have children. Coming into the current century, we have seen a major debate with feminism forcing the claim to more equal treatment. This is not been a complete success. Women continue to be paid less than men for the same work and they are denied access to many of the more powerful jobs. More interestingly, we have entered a time of so-called political correctness where it's no longer considered appropriate to discuss some issues. This has been creating problems because, in many ways, women are not the same as men but research into these differences has become more controversial. You only have to mention the question whether there are biological differences producing different levels of intelligence to start a war.

Nevertheless, there has been some research into whether women and men have the same responses to pain. This is a difficult area because the reaction to pain is highly subjective. What some people may consider trivial is the worst agony for others. The problem is there's no such thing as a standard unit of pain you can inject into people and then measure their reaction. You can only devise standard questionnaires and interview large numbers of people, hoping patterns will emerge. Why should this research be accepted? The answer lies in the statistics. If you look at the claims made on health insurance plans and at the number of prescriptions written, there's a dramatic difference between the genders. Women consult doctors about pain fair more often than men. They consume more prescription drugs than men. They are more frequently referred to hospitals and clinics for treatment. This is a major planning issue for federal government. It needs to know how many doctors are needed per head of population and how many more hospitals are going to be required as the population grows (and ages). Give the length of time it takes to train doctors and health care professionals, you need to plan years ahead.

Why are women more prepared to admit pain? There are a number of possible explanations, the most likely being cultural. It's socially acceptable for women to appear weak. Men, however, are expected to accept pain and get on with life. Since the basic biology is the same between the sexes, physical explanations are more difficult to offer. The way the nervous system works is identical in men and women. Indeed, it's because of this that Ultram works equally well in both sexes. The drug has the same effect on the neurotransmitters and prevents the brain from being aware of anything less than severe pain. Were this not the case, the pharmaceutical industry would have been investing heavily in an Ultram for women. It would be the biggest market on the planet.