Gendered racism in healthcare: a look at Luxembourg
Before her gynaecology appointment, a racialised woman in Luxembourg spent weeks searching for a gynaecologist who was also racialised. She needed to reduce the odds of leaving consultation feeling dismissed, disbelieved, or diminished. The fact that this preparation was necessary at all, tells us something important about whose symptoms are taken seriously in healthcare spaces in Luxembourg. A healthcare system that guarantees universal access through compulsory public insurance, yet formal equality does not produce equal experiences.
The 2022 CEFIS/LISER national racism study identifies healthcare as one of the key domains where ethno-racial discrimination occurs, a finding that sits in tension with the system's self-image as universally accessible. Further, the report confirms that discrimination in healthcare takes concrete forms: refusals to take on certain patients, dismissive treatment of racialised families, and the use of labels like the "Mediterranean syndrome", the assumption that certain patients exaggerate their symptoms, applied without clinical basis to Arabs, Muslims, and other racialised groups. When gender intersects with racialization, these dynamics compound further.
Research on the "gender pain gap" shows that women's pain is already more likely to be underestimated or psychologised than men's. For racialised women, both forces operate at once. The hours spent vetting doctors before an appointment are not a minor inconvenience. They represent an invisible tax in terms of time, energy, and mental health, paid by people who are already navigating a system that was not designed for them. It is a heavy burden that should not exist. And it is a burden carried alone, with no institutional support, in a country where nearly half of the residents already recognize that discrimination based on skin colour is widespread in society.
This blog post is part of the ARM project. The ARM project is an international project designed to explore the complex layers of racial and gender discrimination through the power of storytelling, art, and narrative research. Our goal is to create practical tools that support the mental health and empowerment of racialised and LGBTIQ youth.
At its core, the project looks beyond individual incidents of racism or discrimination. Instead, we’re interested in the hidden, often unspoken emotional impact these experiences leave behind — how they shape a young person’s sense of self, confidence, and well‑being.
Across Europe, race and gender still strongly influence who feels safe, heard, and valued. Yet the mental health effects of racism, gender discrimination, and internalised racism are rarely discussed, even though they deeply affect racialised and LGBTIQ young people. ARM aims to change that by creating spaces where youth can share their lived experiences and see their stories reflected, respected, and understood.
