Women Are Leading the Health and Wellness Sector
Linked In told me so. I remember my college days when Gym Shark was one of the most popular brands paving a new way in marketing. Young women in college, just like me, were getting the fittest of their lives while sporting nylon and polyester with a little shark logo.
The leggings were a sensation. It might have been my algorithm dedicated to searches on how to stave away the freshman fifteen, which had somehow become the horrific freshman thirty, but the gym shark presence was undeniable. Influencer marketing was ruling my world. My Instagram feed featured round, Gym Shark bums, and the leggings I was dying to have but couldn’t afford.
A decade later and women are not just advertising athletic clothing. However, it did give rise to Athleisure, which combines both fashion and function, and I admittedly love it, but women are leading million-dollar health and wellness companies. In the past decade, there has been an evolution in the approach to women’s health with the help of female voices.
Young women turned influencers might have started by being gym rats in rad leggings, but they evolved their platforms into something more. Suddenly there was a predominantly female presence in a world created by and for men.
Audiences and consumers wanted more from female influencers. They wanted answers to questions from women they felt represented them. Another change in social media influencing began when Instagram added the ‘Live’ feature. While wearing bum-flattering leggings, women went live to talk about body image issues, problems in women’s healthcare, and a realness that audiences craved.
Flattering photos were out. Women wanted to see real women at home, at work, raising children, fighting PCOS; they wanted to know influencers like they knew their best friends.
Suddenly there was a conversation happening on a scale it may have never happened before. Women in comments under photos of IVF needles asked questions about fertility they never had the opportunity to ask until they found themselves in front of a fertility specialist. The flow of information was circulating with more velocity, but the demand for better care was on the rise.
Women told stories of being dismissed in doctors' offices when reporting the severity of pain while menstruating, among other ailments. Out of the dismissal of women’s voices came more accounts demanding answers with hashtags and followings to amplify the discussion. Women dismissed for their weight, their disabilities, their race, their health, in a variety of settings finally had a voice and a community to say me too and begin to create a different way forward.
And, of course, there was #metoo; A movement that continues to echo throughout the years, ending violence, manipulation, and gatekeeping against women and men in the career space.
Instead of waiting on answers, women began seeking them. So my feed changed from perfect women in perfect outfits to real women in their rawest moments, and again to women finding answers and creating careers centered around their new niche.
Right now, we see the rise in women’s pleasure. We might credit the outspoken (and downright out there), Goop (2012) founder, Gwyneth Paltrow, for her quirky shop centered around women’s lifestyle and, um, vaginas. Millennials might remember the name Lo Bosworth, CEO of Love Wellness. When Love Wellness launched in 2016, I was surprised to see the emphasis on women’s vaginal and gut health. Now influencers and TV personalities are all about sharing the Good News.
In 2015 Emma Watson was the spokesperson for OMGYes, I remember thinking (as a 23-year-old virgin) that I needed a subscription to learn more about the research regarding women’s pleasure. I recognized the integrity of the mission to make women’s lives better as it had never been done before.
The Bachelor fans remember Katie Thurston giving Matt James her vibrator the first night of Season 25. Katie was a self-proclaimed self-love advocate and went on to her season of The Bachelorette to share how her sexual reclamation happened after being assaulted. At the time of airing, Thurston created an online community for survivors to talk freely about their experiences and their path toward healing.
Women have spent the better part of the last decade learning from one another, commiserating, strategizing, and asking for more. We are just beginning to see more options and answers regarding women’s health, with much more to look forward to as the conversation continues. Health and Wellness is an exciting sector for women in 2022.
