A market research company owned by Berkshire Hathaway has published a report called The COVID-19 Pandemic and a Rising Focus on Women’s Untapped Healthcare Needs are Transforming the Global Femtech Solutions Industry. To learn all about this, one needs only pay $4,950. Not only can the entrepreneurial businessperson gain new market insights about how to profit from women’s bodies, but companies like Berkshire Hathaway can profit from those desiring to profit from women’s bodies, too.
What might be these untapped health care needs that are “transforming to global femtech solutions industry”? BusinessWire says (here):
[T]here is a dearth of solutions available for specific women’s health issues such as fibroids, PCOS, thyroid issues, endometriosis, pelvic health, pre-menopausal, and menopausal care. While digital health solutions, now under the broader term of virtual care, received a boost during the pandemic, these areas of women’s health are yet to find the attention that they truly deserve.
Next up on deck? I haven’t read the report (that $4,950 price tag!), but I’m predicting at a minimum:
- “Menopause countdown clocks” for your iPhone
- Ovarian or fallopian tube implants with bluetooth connections to monitor for the development of endometrial tissue
- “Prickless” blood testing for hormone levels related to PCOS (connected to a smartphone app, of course).
All of these will be accompanied by privacy policies that make it difficult for users to opt-out of data sharing. There will be multiple, documented data breaches of information stored on smartphones or web sites being shared with Facebook. Employers will offer incentives for opting *in* to data sharing with them in return. Just my predictions. (For the way aspects of that dystopian future are already here, see Michele Estrin Gilman, Periods for Profit and the Rise of Menstrual Surveillance, 32 Colum. J. Gender & L. (forthcoming 2021).
#Menstrualcapitalism has officially moved to its next phase.
