Surviving More Than Cancer: Why Women of Color Struggle for Adequate Care
Harshita Sharma
September 2025
When we hear ‘cancer survivor,’ it is easy to imagine an inspiring and hopeful story. But for women of color, this battle continues beyond beating cancer. It’s about overcoming the systemic barriers that continue to persist long after diagnosis.
Black women are 38% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, despite slightly lower incidence rates(1). Black people have lower survival rates than White people for almost every cancer type and have the highest death rate for many cancers, including breast and prostate, the two most common cancers in men and women (1). What is the reason for these disparities?
Systemic Barriers and Bias in the Exam Room
Lack of insurance and economic instability delay screening and treatment, with Hispanic and Black women being disproportionately affected. Even after adjusting for factors like income or insurance, race and ethnicity still predict the quality of care received from diagnostics to treatment access. (2)
Dr. Lovell A. Jones, PhD, an oncologist at the MD Anderson Cancer Center and equity pioneer, shares inside stories in a 2014 interview(4) about how he led research on synthetic and natural estrogens, gynecologic cancers, and fought for minority representation and health equity in medicine. The interview was conducted by Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD, under MD Anderson’s Making Cancer History program. He gives an example of how African-American patients are inappropriately labelled “difficult” and so they are excluded from clinical trials. He recalls a black patient labelled “noncompliant” turned out not to be defiant; he simply lacked a refrigerator to store insulin. Once that barrier was removed, he “became one of our most compliant patients(3).”
Dr. Jones next recounts a story about the NCI and bias. Dr. Jones emphasizes that he uses the term “bias” instead of “racist.” He notes that there is little bias in dealing with pediatric cancer, but once children turn sixteen, bias begins to be evident in their treatment (3). Dr. Jones’s experiences and reflections serve as a call to action for the medical field to critically examine and dismantle the biases that hinder equitable care.
Research Gaps and the Fight for Representation
Historically, women of color have been neglected in clinical trials, which limits the understanding of how they are affected by certain cancer treatments(5)(6).
It has also been noted on various instances that black women are often prescribed lower doses of pain medications. The stereotype that Black women have higher pain tolerance leads to dismissive care, sometimes with fatal consequences(7)(8)
Women of color frequently experience microaggressions, mistrust, and gaslighting in healthcare settings. And such demeaning experiences can develop adherence to seek future care.
Healing the Cracks
The cancer journey for women of color can often begin with a disadvantage: late detection, lack of support, and systemic bias. And this is not because their disease is untreatable, but rather because the system that should help often fails them. But their lives are not defined by those forces alone. The growing visibility of their experiences, combined with research, is slowly reshaping the narrative one step at a time. But there is still a lot to be done.
Pain management protocols need to be standardised to eliminate racial disparities in analgesia. Physicians and care providers should receive bias training to confront the biases that are unconsciously instilled in us. Women of color should be recruited in trials to ensure studies reflect diverse populations. Access to insurance, screening, and timely referral should be expanded to underprivileged communities.
Cancer equity is not an aspiration—it’s a human right. The tools to achieve it are already in our hands: community, advocacy, policy change, inclusive science, structural introspection. We have seen what works. Now, we must bring that hope to everyone.
References
[1] Cancer Facts & Figures for African American/Black People Retrieved from https://www.cancer.org/research/cancer-facts-statistics/cancer-facts-figures-for-african-americans.html
[2] Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care.
Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK220358/ doi: 10.17226/12875
[3] Chapter 15: Minority Experiences in Healthcare: The Origins of Health Inequity
Retrieved from https://openworks.mdanderson.org/mchv_interviewchapters/611/
[4] Complete interview: https://openworks.mdanderson.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=0&article=1100&context=mchv_interviewsessions&type=additional
[5] Verywell Health. (2020). Breast Cancer Risk: Disparities That Affect Black Women. Retrieved from https://www.verywellhealth.com/breast-cancer-risk-black-women-6740824
[6] Javier-DesLoges, J. et al. (2022). Disparities and trends in the participation of minorities, women, and the elderly in breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancer clinical trials. Cancer, Wiley Online Library. Retrieved from https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cncr.33991
[7] Medical News Today Article (2020) Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/90-us-primary-care-offers-lower-pain-relief-doses-black-patients
[8] University of Michigan Health System Study (2010)Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100817090806.htm
